BIBLIOGRAPHIC INPUT SHEET TEMPORARY Patterns of mortality ...

14 Patternsof Mortality in Childhood
center of commercial attraction for about
15 outlying rural localities. Its population
is almost entirely indigenous and mestizo.
Estimated populations for Viacha for the
two years of the Investigation were provided
by the Ministry of Social Welfare
and Public Health on the basis of the 1950
census. For the midperiod (1 July 1969)
the estimate was 10,320 inhabitants.
Both the Department of Preventive
Medicine of the San Andr~s University
Medical School and the Ministry of Health
were involved in this project in Bolivia, as
the principal collaborator held appointments
in both agencies (chief of the aforesaid
Department and of the Ministry's
Health Planning Office).
La Paz city had 14 official and semiofficial
hospitals and 29 private hospitals, with a
total of 2,416 beds, 308 of them for pediatrics.
Ir 1971 there were 678 physicians,
including 50 pediatricians. There were also
112 nurses and 96 auxiliary nurses. Viacha
had one health center-hospital with 20 beds,
4 physicians, 2 nurses, and 4 auxiliary
nurses.
BRAZIL
From the outset of planning for the Investigation,
it was considered advisable to
include a project in northeast Brazil because
of te serious health problems affecting
that large developing area. This region
was receiving considerable attention in
Brazil's plans for economic and social development,
and a well-qualified collaborator
was available there, a professor of
pediatrics in the new Institute of Child
Medicine of Pernambuco (IMIP, Instituto
de Medicina Infantil de Pernambuco). Infant
mortality was reported to be excessively
high in the area.
The Inter-American Investigation of
M,-tality in adults had been conducted in
the cities of RibeirAo Pr~to and Sio Paulo
in the State of Sio Paulo and there were
likewise well-qualified collaborators in both
places. Thus two large projects-one in
Recife and one in S5o Paulo-and a small
project in Ribciro Pr~to were developed to
provide varied experiences of this large
country, which numbered more than 94
million inhabitants in 1970.
The location of the three projects is shown
in Figure 2. A census was conducted in
Brazil on 1 September 1970 and provisional
population figures were available for use
in the Investigation.
Recife Project
Recife is the capital city of Pernambuco,
one of the principal states of the northeast
region (Figure 2). The city covers an area
of 209 kmn 2 on the Atlantic coast and is
bisected by two rivers and by sea channels
(Figure 6). The average temperature is
22-23°C, with ranges between 170 and
33°C. Precipitation is very high, measuring
from 1,700 to 2,300 mm per annum.
In 1969 the city had an estimated population
of 1,060,542, and a density of 5,074
inhabitants per km 2 . In that year the estimated
number of living units was 202,000,
of which 31.4 per cent had piped water
supplies. The remainder of the units obtained
water from 180 public piped-water
taps and from other sources. Only 29 per
cent of the houses had sewage disposal
facilities.
Recife is considered to be one of the main
commercial centers of northeast Brazil and
is undergoing very rapid industrial development,
having at the present time some
595 major industrial plants. Per-capita income,
however, is low, the average being
estimated at 1,630 cruzeiros per year.
In 1969 the city had 45 hospitals, of which
25 were private. In 36 hospitals both adults