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)