No. 10: Plateaus During the Rise of Contraceptive Prevalence John Ross, Ed Abel, and Kate Abel (February 2004)  Full Document (English)      Order for free      email to me  Although contraceptive use has risen impressively in many countries over the last few decades, there have been occasional flat periods that have raised serious concerns about the effectiveness of the national family planning programs involved. Of special concern are a few instances in the Asia and Near East region, where interruptions of an established upward trend in contraceptive use have raised troubling policy and program questions for both governments and international donor agencies. Issues exist concerning the actual frequency of plateaus in contraceptive increase, why they occur, why most are so brief, and what actions should be taken when they occur. The analysis reported here uses a large set of national surveys to explore especially the first of those questions and to offer suggestions as to the other three.