BIBLIOGRAPHIC INPUT SHEET TEMPORARY Patterns of mortality ...

8 Patterns ol Mortality in Childhood
THE FIFTEEN PROJECTS
The Investigation was conducted in 13
projects in Latin America during the period
1968-1971, in an additional project carried
out in the United States in California in
1969-1970, and another in Canada in Qu6-
bee Province in 1970 and 1971. Six of the
projects were strictly urban while the other
nine encompassed rural and/or suburban as
well as urban areas. Because of the wide
variety in topogral)hy and environmental
conditions in these areas, an idea of the
nature and characteristics of each of them
is necessary for interpretation of the results,
Therefore each one is described in some
detail, and the locations and population
concentrations are indicated on the accompanying
maps.
The importance of accurate data for
health planning in rural areas of the Region
is so great that special attention is given
wherever possible to presentation of the
findings in the rural sectors. Some of the
rural and suburban r'-9as are too small to
permit conclusive results and thus caution
is necessary in interpreting the fi:ndings.
However, the variety of the mortality patterns
as well as the many sociological and
biological factors found to he involved indicate
the richness of the material compiled
and the opportunities for further research
wherever the renults are inconclusive,
The wide distribution of the 15 projects
over the Americas can be seen on the map
in Figure 1 (frontispiece). The Sherbrooke
project in Qu6bec Province has the northernmost
location, while the Chilean project
has the southernmost, lying at the other end
of the Hemisphere. The six projects shown
by circles are confined to cities, while the
other nine shown by squares include suburban
and/or rural areas.
The projects are described below, in
alphabetical order of the countries in which
they are situated, this same order being
maintained for the presentation of data
throughout the report. Three countries-
Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia-had
more than one project. Table 1 lists the
areas included in each project and the estimated
populations and live birtns used for
the calculation of rates. For the rates under
5 years of age, the population under 5 years
serves as the basis (denominator). For
infant mortality, live births are used as the
denominator. The term urban is used in
this report to signify a city in classifying
areas of the projects. However, a few of
the cities' small suburban or rural populations
are included. In the Ribeirao Prato
project it was necessary to use the term
city to make the distinction between the
name of the project, the city of Ribeirao
Prato, the interior city of Franca, and the
communities.
The size of the cities, small communities,
and rural districts (in square kilometers)
is specified to aid in understanding the wide
diversity of the material. For example, the
city of San Francisco covers 123 kin 2 While
the city of Sio Paulo extends over a much
larger area-842 kin 2 . San. Juan Province
in Argentina has 96,493 kin;, the largest
geographic area in the Investigation, and
the Sherbrooke project in Canada was also
extensive, covering 20,200 km 2 .
ARGENTINA
Two areas of Argentina-a portion of the
Province of Chaco and all of San Juan
Province--were selected for inclusion in the
Investigation, in part because of the availability
of suitable principal collaborators and