Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, cut its fertility rate in half over a 30-year period. After decades of international efforts administered by the United Nations, development experts concur that family planning programs have been a key tool in reducing poverty and in empowering women—an undisputed path to development for poor countries. Indonesia’s policy, which aimed to limit families to two children, has reduced fertility rate to 2.37 births per woman in 2012. The centralized policy extended maternal health and family planning clinics across this nation of 255 million people, leading to a sharp dip in maternal mortality. Challenges remain for Indonesia, and many other countries. Here’s an in-depth look at what we can learn from Indonesia.
Family planning can help the world: Lessons from Indonesia
More of Today's Solutions
Scientists build first fully human bone marrow model to revolutionize blood d...
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a transformative leap for regenerative medicine, scientists have developed the first entirely human-engineered bone marrow system. This ...
Read More7 cold and flu season mistakes doctors want you to quit making
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM You’ve heard the warnings: cold and flu season is no joke. But despite our best intentions (and fully ...
Read MoreThree ways we can repurpose closed department stores
40 percent of US department stores have closed their doors in the past five years, but the question remains: what do we do with ...
Read MoreHubble takes beautiful image of galaxies “dancing”
The Hubble Space Telescope ventured into space over three decades ago in 1990, and has observed around 50,000 celestial bodies to date. During this ...
Read More
