BIBLIOGRAPHIC INPUT SHEET TEMPORARY Patterns of mortality ...

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Patternsof Mortality in Childhood
technology continues to contribute. We have pointed out that child mortality,
and in particular infant mortality, is the most sensitive indicator of the degree
of underdevelopment of a community. Furthermore, medical technology cannot
be asked to resolve social situations on which it has no influence.
We recognize that these reflections bear on causes whose true magnitude and
implications we were unable to evaluate. It was for that reason that we undertook
this Investigation, the results of which we are now pleased to submit to the
Governments, the universities, and students of child mortality-today the
most important health problem in the Americas, where in most of the countries
young persons under 15 years of age comprise no less than 40 to 50 per cent
of the population, and mothers and children together, 63 per cent of the total.
Today, the Governments are aware that the progressive solution of this
problem, based on its multiple causation, represents a very tangible contribution
to well-being and economic development. Hence the great importance of
this publication. It shows us objectively-using an ecological approach-the
imperative need to analyze and to deal as a whole with the factors involved
in the morbidity and mortality of mothers and children. Among the deaths
analyzed nutritional deficiency appears to be the most serious health problem.
When it accompanies low birth weight, the two together endanger survival and
jeopardize the growth and development of the newborn child. The more serious
the malnutrition of mothers, the more uncertain the future of their children.
And the greater the number of offspring, the more serious the risk to the mother
and her child.
This study undeniably confims the synergism between infection and nutritional
status, which highlights the priority of immunization programs against
specific diseases. Moreover, breast feeding, the educational level of mothers,
and the availability of water in the home directly influence the decline in the
incidence of various diseases, mental retardation, and mortality. And it is only
logical that there should be an inverse correlation between mortality in children
and their perinatal care as well as prenatal care of mothers.
These circumstances further substantiate the need for rational family planning,
founded on the parents' sense of responsibility for the well-being of their
children.
As the study shows, official statistics do not completely disclose the true
magnitude of health problems, a fact that is reflected in the plans, programs,
and projects that are formulated. Through the training of statisticians and their
auxiliaries, greater efforts should be made to improve the quality of data, to
lay the foundation for the more rational use of resources, to evaluate the
activities undertaken and the social effects achieved. The effectiveness of
such a statistical system, however, will depend essentially on the medical profession's
interest in bringing about improvement in the clinical records, through
the registration of all data derived from medical diagnoses.
Once again, a significant difference is disclosed between rates of morbidity