Alasdair Drysdale, professor of geography at the University of New Hampshire, has been awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research on family planning in Oman and Jordan, the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board announced. Drysdale has been at UNH since 1976, and is currently chair of the geography department. His field is the Middle East, and this award will allow him to travel to Oman and Jordan to study birth spacing, a relatively new concept geared at reducing the fertility rate by encouraging women to wait longer between having children.
Oman has the second highest fertility rate in the world.
Birth spacing is a culturally acceptable way to encourage people to have fewer children. Drysdale says population control programs are relatively new in both countries, but already more children are surviving. His research grant will allow him to evaluate the success of the programs. I am enriched by the experience, and it is very much reflected in my teaching. There is no question that everyone gains.