_14_ _Fandly Planning Success Stories in Bangladesh and India_ spacing births too closely was undesirable. The desired period of birth interval varied from two to six years with a mode somewhere between three and five years. There was no observable difference between the Treatment and Comparison Areas regarding the desire for spacing births and the reasons stated for it. This was also true for the desired timings of first and last birth. The desired age of women at first birth varied from 15 to 27 years with the mode somewhere between 18 and 22. Tbe desired timing of last birth varied from 27 to 45 years, the mode being somewhere around 35. In both the Areas it was widely considered as shameful if a woman became pregnant after her daughter was married or became pregnant.

The evidence stated in the above paragraphs indicate a more or less similar shift towards small family norm and birth spacing in both the Treatment and Comparison Areas during the Matlab Project period. Since the supply inputs of the Project were provided only in the Treatment Area, their role in this shift can be inferred as a minimal, if any. A higher level of interpersonal communication between the villagers and village-level workers in the Treatment Area could be expected to lead to greater attitudinal change in that Area but the occurrence of similar shift in both the Areas indicates that the role of workers in generating attitudinal change regarding family size and birth spacing has been negligible, although some diffusion of ideas from the Treatment Area to the Comparison Area cannot be ruled out.

The above evidence suggests that factors exogenous to the Matlab project have influenced the attitude toward family size and birth spacing in both the Treatment and Comparison Areas and perhaps in the whole country. Two factors which seem to be most relevant in this respect are: (i) a proliferation of modern forms of communication combined with a growing disparity between aspirations and familial resources leading to modernization of reproductive motives through their effects on exogenous fertility determinants (Freedman and Freedman 1986; Phillips et al. 1988) and (ii) an expanding mass communication program of the Bangladesh government for motivating people in favor of small family norm and birth spacing. The rapid development of modern communication and the rise of aspiration for a better standard of living during the last decade have enhanced the importance of children's education and its perceived cost to the family even in rural areas. The focus group study in Matlab revealed that the Sukhi Sangsar program of Radio Bangladesh has considerably influenced the attitude of both the Treatment Area and Comparison Area residents regarding family size and birth spacing (Nag and Duza 1988).

Although attitudinal changes have occurred more or less equally in the Treatment and Comparison Areas, higher contraceptive prevalence in the Treatment Area indicates that the KAPgap or the disparity between the knowledge and attitude towards contraception and its actual practice is less in that Area than in the Comparison Area. It shows that the unmet demand which existed in both the Areas prior to the introduction of the Project was quite fragile and the supply inputs of the Project in the Treatment Area were able to crystallize the fragile demand of many couples in the Area toward the adoption of a contraceptive method. In this sense the additional demand for contraception in the Treatment Area can be considered as supply-induced.

# _Impadt on Ifnant and Child Moldaity_

One basic objective of the Matlab Project, from its very inception, was to test the efficacy of various strategies to reduce the infant and child mortality. Some child health services were introduced sequentially in different blocks of the Treatment Area. The yearly mortality rates at