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Knowledge, attitudes and practice of family planning: profile of a Bedouin community in Saudi Arabia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Zohair A. Sebai
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, University of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Summary

Family planning is not being practised in Wadi Turaba in western Saudi Arabia, which is a Bedouin community with different stages of settlement. Children are wanted in the family, and the more children, especially boys, the better the social status of the family in the community. The desire of a mother for more children does not appear to be affected by her age group, history of previous marriages or history of previous pregnancies.Knowledge about contraceptives practically does not exist, except on a small scale in the settled community. Every woman, following the Koranic teachings, weans her child exactly at the age of 2 years, which obviously leads to the spacing of births. In rather rare situations, coitus interruptus is practised.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

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References

Dickson, H.R.P. (1959) The Arab of the Desert (A Glimpse into Bedouin Life in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia), p. 172. Allen & Unwin, London.Google Scholar
Patai, R. (1962) Golden River to Golden Road. Society and Change in the Middle East. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar