Population And Health In Developing Countries Population Health And Survival At Indepth Sites

Population and Health in Developing Countries: Volume 1. Poulation, health, and survival at INDEPTH sites

This book provides an overview of the health of developing nations in the early twenty-first century. The basic assumption is that the health of a population is not independent of broader demographic trends, and does follow the health transition model. The coverage is broad, ranging from health transition in developing countries, to the health of women, to an analysis of morbidity. Population health is an essential component of human and social development. As both a means and an end of development, health lies at the heart of underdevelopment, and ranks first on the list of international priorities. The WHO slogan ‘Health for all in 2000’ reflects the spirit of a more general movement in favor of health promotion throughout the world. But the developing world is far from reaching this aim. The health of populations has improved in developing regions but there are still deep inequalities, and serious problems remain, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. After reviewing the core concepts of population health, the book examines health transition in developing countries, a process that has resulted in a double burden of diseases. A discussion of mortality in developing countries serves to highlight the high rates of child mortality in these regions. The book devotes a full chapter to women’s health, and its chapter-length analysis of morbidity highlights the double burden weighing down developing populations and concludes with an analysis of health systems in developing countries.

Using INDEPTH's multi-site network to provide new demographic insights into population variables, this book focuses on migration and how it impacts on health and livelihoods in impoverished communities of the developing world. INDEPTH offers a longitudinal perspective in a series of case studies from locations in sub-Saharan Africa, South and South East Asia.

Over the past decade, several initiatives have been launched to address the major health problems affecting the world's poorest countries, including global efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. More recently, a millennial challenge has been laid down to root out and confront the links between poverty and health. Using demographic surveillance systems, the INDEPTH researchers aim to contribute both to the empirical knowledge about health equity in developing countries and to report on the application of and innovation in tools and methods. Illustrated with case studies from Africa and Asia, this book puts forward a comprehensive view of the INDEPTH methodologies and findings. It develops and measures concepts and constructs of 'poverty' and 'equity' and relates these to health status. While tools and concepts for measuring health status are more developed, this volume contributes by grappling with new concepts and tools to measure changes in deprivation and disadvantage, adding to this intense theoretical and methodological debate.

"We have a real opportunity now to make progress that will mean longer healthier lives for millions of people.

This handbook compiles methods for gathering, organizing and disseminating data to inform policy and manage health systems worldwide. Contributing authors describe national and international structures for generating data and explain the relevance of ethics, policy, epidemiology, health economics, demography, statistics, geography and qualitative methods to describing population health. The reader, whether a student of global health, public health practitioner, programme manager, data analyst or policymaker, will appreciate the methods, context and importance of collecting and using global health data.