A Descriptive Study of Success Factors of Reproductive Health Program in Korea

Korea's reproductive health(RH) program had been focused on family planning and MCH care, with the family planning program being executed simultaneously with economic development for extreme poverty and hunger eradication until the mid of 1990.
The purpose of study is to identify the policies/programs, success factors for RH in Korea and contribute to improving the official development assistance(ODA) for RH in developing countries. Currently, most nations in Africa and South Asia, Korea's key partners for the ODA are characterized by high fertility, high maternal and infant mortality and extreme poverty, and low social status of women, whose circumstances are very similar to those of Korea in the 1960s.
Based on this study result, Korea's strategies in improving the RH- sector wide approach based on primary health care, the 'Women's Association for Saemaeul', which was organized as part of ownership and success of the five-year economic development-had been successful. Just, nations featuring high fertility can be regarded as male-dominated societies, with the result that Korea's intervention may cause resistance. Therefore, RH program to the developing countries need to consider their socio-cultural factors to ensure women's right to life at a national level needs to be set as the core of Korea's RH program.