A Study on the Development of Family Planning Services in China: From Family Planning to Reproductive Health/Family Health Care

Xiaoming Sun, Nanjing College for Population Program Management (NCPPM)

Background: During the past 30 years, China’s national family planning program has accelerated the pace of fertility transition and, after the 1994 ICPD, made a significant shift from focusing solely on population control to promoting reproductive health and family health care. Method: 6 provinces were selected as study sites that represent different service models based on their service expansion. Data and documents review, focus group discussion and field observation are applied to evaluate the development. Results: The results show that China’s family planning service system has experienced its first shift from contraceptive services to reproductive health services from year 1995 to year 2005, and then started to initiate its second shift from reproductive health services to reproductive health/family health care services, particularly the service for the middle-age and elderly people. Conclusions:China’s family planning program has been undergoing a significant development towards client-oriented, comprehensive reproductive health and family health care services.