Mauritius
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Growth and Development L'Action Familiale (Family Action) was officially established on April 24, 1963, at the initiative of Msgr. Jean Margeot, then vicar general of the Mauritian diocese. He was advised and assisted in his endeavor by a team of doctors and couples. At that time there was a national demographic problem of exceptional scale and urgency in the country. The total population in 1963 was 713,731. Public opinion was already beginning to show some concern about the consequences of the population explosion, and many couples, especially Catholics, were already practicing traditional birth control methods, such as breastfeeding and the Ogino-Knaus method of calendar rhythm. Msgr. Margeot and his team decided, therefore, to provide, particularly to Catholic couples, a scientific natural method-the thermal method-which had been presented earlier that year by Father Stanislas de Lestapis. Couples were taught the basal body temperature (BBT) method of charting for the determination of the fertile and infertile periods of a woman's menstrual cycle. They were therefore able to exercise some control over conception and hence their family size. The idea of the regulation of fertility through the use of periodic abstinence was thus officially propagated. Couple-to-couple action rapidly popularized BBT method. Drs. Francois and Michele Guy, two French doctors, who visited the country in August 1963, were invited in December 1964 to impart their experience gained in the field of NFP in Grenoble to the local pioneer team. They devoted two years of their lives to the development of the NFP program, in training of instructors and in the introduction of a youth sex education program in secondary schools and youth clubs. Their invaluable work was essential to the success of l'Action Familiale's program. Incorporated under the l'Action Familiale ordinance, No. 38 of 1964, the association has as its objectives "to promote the welfare and happiness of families, to foster the ideas of harmonious married life and responsible parenthood, and to support the propagation of all natural methods of regulating childbirth." According to the philosophy of l'Action Familiale, birth regulation is not just a technical problem; it arises from the choice made by a properly informed couple, aware of the biological, psychological, and socioeconomic aspects of their life. The choice exists only when the couple have clearly understood the values at stake and are not subjected to any moral, intellectual, religious, or political pressures from the outside. L'Action Familiale stresses the importance of the development of the potential of every human being, and for that reason it was decided at the very beginning of the association to invest in educating couples in human, conjugal, and family life. NFP cannot be taught as a mere birth control device but is presented as a mode of life to foster understanding between husband and wife. The couples are requested to respect life, especially the life of the unborn child; to respect the fecundity of the woman and the couple; and to develop responsibility toward a better and more enlightened conjugal and family life. In addition to teaching the basic aspects of NFP that is, the anatomy and physiology of the male and female reproductive organs and the indicators of ovulation-l'Action Familiale also teaches couples how to be responsible parents, how to feed their children, how to maintain a dialogue within the family, and other family values. |