[History of contraception and a look to the future]

The desire to limit procreation is as old as mankind. The means to reduce the number of children has been abortion and infanticide rather than contraception. But contraceptive methods have been used already in prehistoric times. They were partly logical, partly illogical and ineffective. Definite improvements were made in 19th century and a more scientific approach began in the 20th century. In order to master the problems of population explosion in developing countries intensive financial and organizational efforts have to be made.