Family planning board to hold census next month

Family planning board to hold census next month

JAKARTA (JP): The National Family Planning Board (BKKBN)
announced on Tuesday a three-month census of Indonesian families
to begin on Jan. 2.

The board's deputy for planning and analysis, Mazwar Noerdin,
said on Tuesday the annual census was needed to ascertain the
number of poor families and their participation in the
government's birth control program.

"Based on the data, the government will determine the number
of families who deserve free medical services at community health
centers and state hospitals," Mazwar said.

Families classified as poor by census workers will be given a
card entitling them to free health services.

The government used the board's data to determine families for
the social safety net program of the past two years.

The last census counted 46 million families in the country,
15.3 percent classified as poor.

Mazwar said he expected the census to cover nearly 99.5
percent of families to match last year's total.

Since its inception in 1994, the census has provided data on
age, sex, socioeconomic status and religious habits of Indonesian
families and their members.

To be conducted by some 1.5 million workers, the census
results will be announced in July.

The board will spend Rp 3 billion (US$400,000) for the census,
but it will need donations from local governments to finance
operational expenses, including salaries for the census workers.

The board's deputy of family planning, Muchji, predicted
difficulties in surveying families who were displaced or lived in
strife-torn areas of the country.

He identified provinces where census-taking would be difficult
as Aceh, Maluku, Irian Jaya, North Sumatra, West and East Nusa
Tenggara and South Sulawesi. (04)