Situated on the western coast of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan occupies one of the Asian continent's strategic crossroads between East and West. Azerbaijan, like most countries emerging from the Soviet era, is attempting to introduce rapid economic and political reforms to foster national growth and stability. Most couples state that their ideal family size is no more than two to three children. Couples normally reach their desired family size within the first 3-5 years after marriage. To prevent any increase in their family size, couples have relied on abortion as a means of fertility regulation due to the lack of availability of family planning methods.
Fees charged for abortions constitute a large portion of many doctors' incomes.
This explains, in large part, their reported reluctance to promote modern contraception. Pathfinder's involvement in Azerbaijan started in 1996 with an initial project to train 80 service providers. The primary objective of the 30-month long project is to bring family planning, reproductive health, and sexually transmitted infection information and services to the internally displaced and refugee populations currently living in the Apsheron Peninsula region. The project's main purpose includes training of health service providers and implementation of region-wide community based services activities that will reach men, women, and adolescents. Copyright 2001, Pathfinder International.