The Los Angeles Times:

Success in Iran

By Djavad Salehi-Isfahani

In the 1980s, Iran had among the highest birthrates in the Middle East, with the average Iranian woman bearing seven children. In less than two decades, the fertility rate had dropped to two children per mother, setting a world record for the speed of fertility transition.

There are lessons to be learned from Iran's turnaround, which was completely voluntary and occurred under a conservative Islamic government that had initially helped spark a baby boom by restricting opportunities outside the home for women.

First, five years before beginning to advocate smaller families, the government started building rural clinics across the country. By the time the call came for smaller families, women had come to trust their health providers and were thus more likely to accept family planning advice when it was offered.Three factors help explain Iran's success in winning the population, including the rural poor, over to family planning.

A second reason for Iran's success is that the government trained and employed young local women as health workers. They knew the clients they served and could act as role models.

And third, the health system was active rather than passive. If a married woman failed to show up at the clinic at least once a year, a health worker visited her at home.

Once women signed on to family planning, they saw the benefits, including greater opportunities for themselves and their children. But it's too early to declare victory. This fall, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, begged forgiveness from God for having gone "too far with family planning."

Djavad Salehi-Isfahani is a professor of economics atVirginia Tech and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

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