Sterilization needs in the 1990s: the case for quinacrine nonsurgical female sterilization

Much evidence suggests that demand for sterilization is a function of supply of surgical sterilization services in less-developed countries. If such services were greatly expanded, the number of procedures performed would grow dramatically. While the prevalence of sterilization is estimated to increase from 23.5% to 28.8% of married women of reproductive age in the 1990s, there will actually be 106,432,000 more couples of reproductive age at the end of this decade than at its beginning who use either no method or a far less effective method with much lower continuation rates than sterilization--nearly a 20% increase. To achieve a mean sterilization prevalence of 47% of married women of reproductive age in the less-developed world, as now seen in the Republic of Korea and Puerto Rico, the number of sterilizations would need to be more than double the current projection for the 1990s: 328,429,000 rather than 159,000,000. The quinacrine pellet method for nonsurgical female sterilization offers hope that this enormous shortfall in sterilization services can be overcome in this decade.