ABSTRACT
Although unrelated, the decade of the 1970s marked the first major decline in economic prosperity under the Mobutu regime, and it witnessed the start of family planning activities in the country. In 1973–74, the copper price declined in global markets, and consequently, the government began to neglect investment in the roads, health facilities, and schools built during the Belgian Congo era, thus initiating the gradual deterioration of the country’s infrastructure. Contraception remained illegal in the country until 1972 when President Mobutu gave a historic speech that authorized “desirable births” (Naissances Désirables). Consistent with traditional African values, he encouraged parents to have the number of children they desired and could care for, as a means of ensuring their survival. As an African president, he by no means implied limiting births. His speech coincided with the fledgling international family planning movement in the United States and Europe. The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) assisted a nascent quasi-governmental committee to become an IPPF member association under the name AZBEF. The Eglise du Christ au Zaïre (ECZ), an umbrella group for Protestant churches, played a pioneering role in incorporating family planning into maternal child health services in mission hospitals dotting the country.
