The influence of the use of contraceptives by different cultures

Abstract

The rapid population growth is a current problem in the world today. Many countries have formulated policies to lower their levels of fertility and established birth control programs. The population growth in Sri Lanka has decreased, but there are some diferences of fertility rates in two ethnic groups. The Muslim fertility rate was higher than that of Sinhalese. The reason for that is the the birth control has been accepted in two different ways by the two ethnic groups. Under this point, considerable differences can be observed in two ethnic groups due to acceptance of family planning methods in two different ways. Many surveys were conducted in Sri Lanka for examine contraceptive knowledge and it’s usage. But there hasn’t been conducted any survey to study the influence of etnicity The objective of the study is to understand the differences of adoption of contrceptive methods in two etnic groups; the Sinhala women and the Muslims. To fulfil this objective, Sinhala / Muslim in rural/ urban sectors were considred selecting four Grama Niladhari Divisions from three Divisional Secretariat Divisions in Matara District. Firstly, the ideas and concepts of birth control appearing in the Sinhala Buddhist books, i.e. Jathaka Stories, and Muslim - Islam books, i.e. A1 Qur’an, were studied. Secondly, a questionnaire was used for collecting data in the field to examine the family planning knowledge and its uses. It unravels that the Buddhist philosophy and Suthra of Thtipitakaya have not mentioned any religious burden practicing contraception. The Muslims find all solutions and all answers to their problems in A1 Qur’an. But in Islamic laws merits and demerits of family planning are measured by the Qur’an., as it is the main source. Muslim have to stick strictly to their religious tradition and culture. The Qur;an never talks about the control and breeding of their community. Temporary family planning is accepted under the way limitation and laws, but permanent family planning is prohibited. Therefore the use of contraceptive is also different from each other that leads to high growth rate among the Muslim population than that of the Sinhalease.