Why no birth control ?

ska_lover

blossomhill wrote: »

And what have the men done? And often to/with more than one woman/several children?

They too have failed their children.

barbiedoll

The distribution of contraception may have failed in many Third World regions but the distribution of powdered baby milk has made quite an impact in many of the worlds poorest areas. Well-meaning aid workers have been giving formula milk to mothers, meaning that they stop breastfeeding their children. Women in these areas normally breastfeed their children for much longer than their Western counterparts and it is known that breastfeeding does have a contraceptive effect. This used to mean that women who breastfed their babies tended to have 2 or 3 years between pregnancies. Now that they're not breastfeeding so much, the contraceptive effect has been negated and they are falling pregnant every year, hence the larger families. There are other issues of course, the reliance on children to provide for their parents, the religious issue and the fact that many men simply will not contemplate using condoms. Which also accounts for the huge rise in HIV/AIDS infections.

I don't know what the answer is, aid workers do their best but it's clear that throwing money at the problem isn't working.

evenasus

I lived in a third world country (African) for several years.

One of my friends had a house boy, who had child die.
When I next saw him, I said how sorry I was to hear of his child dying. He replied, "It is alright madam, I have six more."

They do have several children so that there will be someone to look after them when they are old.

I didn't have a houseboy as I couldn't stand other people cleaning etc in my house.