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  • Title: Patterns of reproduction among the Fang of Nsork (Equatorial Guinea): pregnancies, abortions and child spacing.
    Author: Sainz de la Maza Kaufmann M, González-Kirchner JP.
    Journal: Rev Biol Trop; 1994; 42(1-2):315-8. PubMed ID: 7480939.
    Abstract:
    Fang women are known to practice virtually no contraception but for them induced abortion is not an acceptable option. Their reproductive behaviour consequently is governed by the ability to conceive, spontaneous intrauterine mortality and child spacing (due to prolonged breast-feeding and sexual abstinence). In a sample of 587 women from one hospital and one clinic in Nsork, there was a positive correlation between maternal age and the number of pregnancies, resulting in a mean of 5.52 pregnancies per female and one child born every 2.5 years. The reported spontaneous abortion rate was 28.6%. Data were collected in the only hospital built in the Nsork district of Equatorial Guinea. Group A comprised deliveries at Nsork Hospital from March 1988 to July 1990 (29 months). Maternal age, number of previous pregnancies, and number of fetal losses from the fourth month of pregnancy were recorded. The total sample comprised 157 women aged 15-40 years who had a total of 555 pregnancies. Group B data were collected from May 1987 to December 1988 (20 months) from the prenatal clinic at a primary health post from a total of 430 pregnant women aged 14-45 years. Group A women represented 15.6% of all women in the district between 15 and 39 years of age; Group B, 36.5% between 15 and 44 years of age. There was a high level of prenatal attendances in Group B; however, only 20.2% of clinic visitors gave birth at the hospital. In Group A, the number of reported pregnancies continued to rise in direct relation to the woman's age (correlation coefficient r = .91). The reproductive age range of this population was 15 to 40 years with a mean of 5.52 pregnancies. The average number of reported abortions per female was .48 for each age group (p .05). The total incidence of fetal loss was 28.3%, 23.9% of which was reported by women with one abortion and 4.4% by women with at least two abortions. Group A had effective child spacing, achieved by a combination of sexual abstinence and prolonged breast feeding. Sexual abstinence was practiced after the seventh month of pregnancy until breast feeding ceased, and breast feeding was continued until the newborn was aged 16-21 months. The pattern of child spacing calculated from the regression between mean number of conceptions per woman and maternal age (r = .91, p .05) was around one pregnancy every 30 months. The data represented a population with close to natural fertility, since their reproduction was not deliberately controlled and there was no cessation of reproduction once the desired family size had been attained.
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