To demonstrate and assess the possibility of improving simultaneously vital statistics and family planning in urban and rural Korea, a action-cum-research project was conducted for a period of one year, from May 1966 to April 1967, over the area covering Kimchun city and a part of surrounding Kumnung Gun, Kyongsangpuk-do province, Korea. As the method of study, a sterilized simple delivery kit was distributed to the expectant mothers in the experimental areas, and its effects on the reporting of vital events such as births and deaths and the acceptance of family planning were compared with the same in the control areas without such an action program. A single delivery kit contained one vinyl sheet for covering and one for lying on, one cotton sheet, a pair of scissors, one foot of thread, two pieces of gauze, a piece of soap, a weight scale and one doubled envelope.
From the study, the system of distributing simple hygiene delivery kits to all expectant mothers in an area is an effective method of obtaining accurate statistics of births. It is also effective in the reduction of infant mortality, which, in turn, promotes acceptance of family planning in rural Korea.
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