ABSTRACT
The population density and vital political considerations have strongly influenced the relative degree of emphasis the present Government was to place on population programs, particularly fertility control. The family planning program became a model for other developing countries during the 1960’s and thousands of workers from Asian countries and others were trained in Taiwan. These and a number of complicated political interactions often were extremely important in the evolvement of the Taiwan family planning program and its eventual attempts to go beyond health services to in-school population education and broader community participation. Taiwan’s exceptional family planning efforts, begun in 1964 on an island-wide basis, have been instrumental in lowering its natural increase rate from 30 per 1,000 in 1963 to 19 by 1973. In 1959, despite difficulties, the Governor of Taiwan agreed to set-up “pre-pregnancy health” services at local government health stations.
