title: Serving rural Australia with reproductive health expertise.
abstract: This study aimed to review the use of reproductive health services in Family Planning clinics by women from rural (non-metropolitan) Australia through a retrospective analysis of data collected at clinics of seven state/territory Family Planning Organisations (FPO). From a total of 146 157 client visits to FPO clinics between July 1998 and June 1999, 42 497 (29.1%) were by clients who lived outside metropolitan areas. Some 97% of clients were women. Our results show the use of reproductive health services by women from rural areas was different from the services used by women from metropolitan areas. There were fewer male clients, more women over 40 years of age, and fewer clients from a non-English speaking background. More of the attendees had pension cards and fewer were privately insured. We concluded there is considerable demand for reproductive health services among the rural population and reproductive health care needs to be expanded to reach rural women.
authors.affiliation: Family Planning Australia, Hackett, Australian Capital Territory and Monash Medical School, Box Hill Hospital, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mirza
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Kovacs
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kinfu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014600:Utilization Review; D014932:Women's Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data