Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T20:58:00.039Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Post-partum events and fertility control in Kinshasa, Zaïre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Jane T. Bertrand ,
C. Chirhamolekwa ,
B. Djunghu ,
K. Chibalonza  and
K. Mahama
Jane T. Bertrand
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Health Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, USA
C. Chirhamolekwa
Affiliation:
Projet des Services des Naissances Désirables, Kinshasa, Zaïre
B. Djunghu
Affiliation:
Projet des Services des Naissances Désirables, Kinshasa, Zaïre
K. Chibalonza
Affiliation:
Projet des Services des Naissances Désirables, Kinshasa, Zaïre
K. Mahama
Affiliation:
Projet des Services des Naissances Désirables, Kinshasa, Zaïre
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Contraceptive prevalence surveys from sub-Saharan Africa typically show low rates of method use. The current study of one zone in Kinshasa, Zaïre, provides a more detailed view of fertility control in an urban population by examining the relative duration of breast-feeding, amenor-rhoea and sexual abstinence during the post-partum period. While motivations to prevent pregnancy remain high until the youngest child is over 24 months, the average duration of abstinence is only 4 months. This paper describes the methods women use to avoid pregnancy and the changes over the post-partum period.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , April 1990 , pp. 197 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © 1990, Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bakutuvwidi, M., Kinavwidi, L. N. & Way, A. (1985) Planification Familiale, Fécondité et Santé Familiale au Zaïre 1982–1984. Institut National de la Statistique, Kinshasa, Zaïre, and Westinghouse Public Applied Systems, Columbia, USA.Google Scholar
Bertrand, J., Bertrand, W. E. & Malonga, M. (1983) The use of traditional and modern methods of fertility control in Kinshasa, Zaïre. Popul. Stud. 37, 129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bertrand, J. T., Nlandu, M., Mansilu, M. E., Mcbride, M. & Tharp, J. L. (1986) Strategies for family planning service delivery in Bas Zaïre. Stud. Fam. Plann. 12, 108.Google Scholar
Bongaarts, J., Frank, O. & Lesthaeghe, R. (1984) The proximate determinants of fertility in sub-Saharan Africa. Popul. Dev. Rev. 3, 511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldwell, P. & Caldwell, J. C. (1981) The function of child spacing in traditional societies and the direction of change. In: Child Spacing in Tropical Africa: Traditions and Change, p. 73. Edited by Page, H. J. & Lesthaeghe, R.. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Carael, M. (1981) Child-spacing, ecology and nutrition in the Kivu province of Zaïre. In: Child Spacing in Tropical Africa: Traditions and Change, p. 275. Edited by Page, H. J. & Lesthaeghe, R.. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Dow, T. (1977) Breastfeeding and abstinence among the Yoruba. Stud. Fam. Plann. 8, 208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ford, K. & Kim, Y. (1987) Distributions of postpartum amenorrhea: some new evidence. Demography, 24, 413.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lesthaeghe, R. (1984) Fertility and its Proximate Determinants in sub-Saharan Africa: The Record of the 1960s and 1970s. Working Paper 1984–2, Interuniversity Program in Demography, Vrije Universiteit, Brussels.Google Scholar
Lesthaeghe, R., Ohadike, P. O., Kocher, J. & Page, H. J. (1981) Child spacing and fertility in sub-Saharan Africa: an overview of issues. In: Child Spacing in Tropical Africa: Traditions and Change, p. 3. Edited by Page, H. J. & Lesthaeghe, R.. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Morris, L., Lewis, G., Powell, D., Anderson, J., Way, A., Cushing, J. & Lawless, G. (1981) Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys: A New Source of Family Planning Data. Population Reports, Series M-3. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Page, H. J. & Lesthaeghe, R. (Eds) (1981) Child Spacing in Tropical Africa: Traditions and Change. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Page, H. J. & Lesthaeghe, R. J. (1988) The Proximate Determinants of Fertility in High Fertility Countries. Fertility Determinants Research Notes No. 23, Population Council, New York.Google Scholar
Sala-Diakanda, M., Apitshandenge, N., Tabutin, D. & Vilquin, E. (1981) Fertility and child-spacing in western Zaïre. In: Child Spacing in Tropical Africa: Traditions and Change, p. 287. Edited by Page, H. J. & Lesthaeghe, R.. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Schoenmaeckers, R., Shah, I. H., Lesthaeghe, R. & Tambashe, O. (1981) The child-spacing tradition and the post-partum taboo in tropical Africa: anthropological evidence. In: Child Spacing in Tropical Africa: Traditions and Change, p. 25. Edited by Page, H. J. & Lesthaeghe, R.. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Valentine, C. H. & Revson, J. E. (1979) Cultural traditions, social change, and fertility in sub-Saharan Africa. J. mod. Afr. Stud. 17, 453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waife, R. S. (1978) Traditional Methods of Birth Control in Zaïre. Path-paper No. 4, Pathfinder Fund, Chestnut Hill, MA.Google Scholar