FAMILY PLANNING AND THE THIRD WORLD – INTRODUCTION
Consultations with patients from Third World countries are not the only ones to pose cultural problems, as has already been suggested. However, there is a particular difficulty when considering contraception and Third World countries, for the questions of world population and poverty are widely debated, and in discussion of these factors they are generally accepted as being directly linked. Such considerations can often colour one’s view of the needs of individuals if they are recent immigrants. All the issues involved will not be expanded upon here, but those who work in the field of reproductive medicine are likely to hold quite strong views on whether population control, or a sharing of resources, should play the bigger role in alleviating world poverty. However, such views may be expressed in a crusading attitude towards the ethnic minorities, that is not subtle enough to allow personal considerations their proper place.
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