BIBLIOGRAPHIC INPUT SHEET TEMPORARY Patterns of mortality ...

Chapter XVIII
Highlights and Recommendations
The Inter-American Investigation of
Mortality in Childhood, in which 35,095
deaths of children under 5 years of age were
studied in 15 different projects, has uncovered
and measured health problems for
which solutions must be sought. This heinispheric
research project has demonstrated
the great value of geographic studies of mortality
with comparisons of the findings in
widely separated areas. The patterns in
each of the areas studied appear to be distinct;
no two projects had the same type or
size of problems. Therefore, the findings in
each area make a unique contribution to
knowledge of conditions in the locality,
state, province, and country in which the
project was situated, while at the same time
adding to the understanding of health problems
of the Hemisphere and of the world.
Highlights of the Investigation are given
in this chapter, along with recommendations
concerning action that could be taken at the
local, national, and international levels for
the improvement of health in childhood,
which in essence means improvement of the
health of families, communities, and nations.
HIGHLIGHTS
Fifteen concise statements of the findings
of the Investigation are given as highlights,
Although nutritional deficiency is considered
the outstanding problem and is
stated first, the order of the others does
not necessarily reflect their relative importance.
Many of the problems are closely
interrelated, and their analysis makes clear
the need for a comprehen sive approach in
health planning in order to attain the overall
objective of maternal and child health
programs, that is, optimum growth and development
of children as an indispensable
requirement for the well-being of societies.
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First. Nutritional deficiency was the
most serious health problem uncovered in
the Investigation, as measured by its involvement
in mortality. This condition is
coupled with low weight at birth, and the
two conditions combined are endangering
the survival and hampering the growth and
development of infants and young children
and probably of future mothers. Through
the study of mortality by multiple causes,
57.0 per cent of the children who died under
5 years of age were found to have had immaturity
or nutritional deficiency as either
the underlying or an associated cause of