Good Health and Well-Being
Costs of rearing children in agricultural economies: An alternative estimation approach and findings from rural Bangladesh
The keys to fertility decline would appear to lie in structural changes in the economy, the satisfaction of existing demand for family planning services and generation of additional demand
Early marriage as a risk factor for mistimed pregnancy among married adolescents in Bangladesh
Evaluation of the thai tobacco control policy
Tobacco use has been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the most preventable cause of death and disability in the world. Globally, there are 1.1 billion people who smoke, over 80 per cent of whom live in low- and middle-income countries. Of all the people alive today, 500 million will die of tobacco-related causes. Although a staggering 100 million tobacco-related deaths occurred in the twentieth century, it is estimated that, by the end of the twenty-first century, 10 times that number, or 1 billion people, will have died because of tobacco use, and this burden will be borne most heavily by developing countries.
Do slum dwellers have lower contraceptive prevalence rates? An analysis of current use patterns in Calcutta, India
The future of Thailand’s population policy: Potential directions
Labour shortages are brought about more by Thailand’s rapidly growing economy and lagging education than by demographic change
Community resources and reproductive behaviour in rural Bangladesh
Social and economic development as well as more widely diffused family planning services will contribute to a higher level of contraceptive use.
Puberty rituals, reproductive knowledge and health of adolescent schoolgirls in South India
In India, programmes and research concerned with women’s health until very recently have focused mainly on the reproductive functions of married women. The recent paradigm shift in the Government’s primary health programme was intended to increase the attention given to gynaecological problems and other aspects of women’s health. Nonetheless, the attention given to the health problems of adolescent girls is still meagre, even though adolescence is a time when looking after health and nutrition can help to build a buffer against the heavy physical demands of the reproductive years. High rates of gynaecological morbidity have been reported in rural populations, adolescents included (Bang and others, 1989; Koenig and others, 1998). However, the health knowledge and problems of adolescents have so far received only minimal attention (Koblinsky and others, 1993).
Gender dimensions of migration in Kerala: Macro and micro evidence
Women follow men in migration from Kerala; men follow women in migration back to that State. Female migrants are better qualified than male migrants, but a lower proportion of them obtain paid employment. Migration causes the separation of wives and husbands. The numbers are the same among both. Wives rarely migrate without husbands, but husbands migrating without wives accompanying them are more the rule than the exception. Men and women both have their own separate gains and losses arising from migration, but women are less capable of handling them without help from their spouses.
The effect of social interaction on fertility goals and behaviour among women in Bangladesh
Until recently, much of the literature concerning population issues in Bangladesh has stressed the presence of conditions that would inhibit a fertility transition — limited opportunities for women in the job market, son preference (Lindenbaum, 1975), the value of children for ameliorating risk (Cain, 1986) and providing familial labour (Caldwell, 1982), the poorly managed national family planning programme (Hartman, 1987), and high infant mortality. Bangladesh is still largely impoverished and agricultural, infant mortality is still high, education levels among women of reproductive age remain low and traditional cultural institutions strong. Yet in this unlikely setting, the total fertility rate has declined from around seven in the late 1970s to well under four in 1994. The fertility transition in Bangladesh was achieved almost exclusively through the use of birth control methods (modem and traditional), with use increasing dramatically from 8 per cent in 1975 to 45 per cent in 1994. Since that time, fertility has remained constant, while contraceptive use has increased to 53 per cent. (Razzaque and others, 2002).
The demography of Asian ageing: Past accomplishments and future challenges for Asia, population ageing lies almost entirely ahead
While rapid population growth, resulting from high fertility combined with lowered mortality, has been the major demographic issue of public, political and scientific concern in much of Asia during most of the last half century, population ageing is poised to replace it as the major demographic preoccupation in the twentyfirst century (Lutz, Sanderson and Scherbov, 1997). Figure 1 makes clear why this is so. The last half of the twentieth century, especially the last three decades, has been marked by rapid fertility decline. According to the latest United Nations estimates and projections, by the year 2000, the total fertility rate (TFR) declined to 2.5 births per woman, or to just 43 per cent of its 1950 level of 5.9, and only a modest additional reduction is projected over the next 50 years. In contrast, population ageing, as measured by the percentage of the total population aged 60 and older, has only just begun to increase by the year 2000, but will rise rapidly over the next half-century.
Population and poverty: Challenges for Asia and the Pacific
Over the past decade, East Asia has halved the proportion of people living in extreme poverty on a dollar or less per day, from 28 to 14 per cent. During the same period, South Asia, where nearly half the world’s poor live, has seen a more modest drop: from 44 to 40 per cent. While part of East Asia’s success can be attributed to good economic policies, economic growth is by no means a magic potion. In fact, growth can actually increase income inequality and widen the gap between rich and poor. To reduce extreme poverty, social investment is needed to expand opportunities, capabilities and participation so that people can climb out of poverty.
Parental consanguinity and offspring mortality: The search for possible linkage in the Indian context
The main reason for reinvestigating the possible linkage between consanguinity and offspring mortality emerged as a result of the gross disagreement among researchers on this subject. For the purpose of this study, consanguinity is defmed as marriage between relatives who share at least one common and detectable ancestor. There is no common consensus in the field of human genetics or demographic research regarding the biological impact of parental consanguinity on the health of their offspring. However, in this regard it is possible to recognize three broad schools of thought. Adherents of the first school consider that there is an overwhelming possibility of consanguineous parents having an unhealthy child. According to this school of thought, marriage between close relatives is genetically critical, because closely related individuals have a higher probability of carrying the same alleles than less closely related individuals. Consequently, an inbred child (the progeny of a consanguineous couple) will more frequently be homozygous for various alleles than the offspring of unrelated persons (Whittinghill, 1965). To the extent that homozygosity for genes is deleterious, consanguineous marriage is deleterious (Sutton, 1965). In this respect, the genetic load of deleterious recessive genes, usually known as the lethal equivalent, would cause death if present in homozygous combination (Cavalli-Sforza and Bodmer, 1971). A number of studies on this subject have focused on an increased level of morbidity (Bemiss, 1858; Rao and others, 1977; Ansari and Sinha, 1978) and mortality (Farah and Preston, 1982; Bundey and Alam, 1993; Bittles, 1994) among the offspring of consanguineous parents. Survey results from a few other sources have also identified a linkage between consanguinity and spontaneous abortion (Neel and Schul, 1962; Al-Awadi and others, 1986) and intrauterine loss (Saheb and others, 1981).
The risks of pregnancy and the consequences among young unmarried women working in a free trade zone in Sri Lanka
The primary health care system in Sri Lanka has an international reputation for its contributions to reducing the rates of infant and maternal morbidity and mortality. These results have been achieved in part through a comprehensive system of early identification of expectant mothers, careful follow-up and monitoring, almost universal hospital deliveries, postpartum follow-up for three months after delivery, an effective immunization programme, nutrition supplements and the reporting of infectious diseases. A key to this system is the “public health midwife” (PHM) who identifies pregnant mothers, ensures their regular attendance at maternal and child health (MCH) clinics, makes monthly home visits, advises pregnant mothers on nutrition and health, facilitates hospital admission for delivery and responds to emergencies. They also provide postnatal follow-up of mother and child (Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine, 1998).
Adolescent reproductive health: What are the lessons learned from the intervention projects
Adolescents aged between 10 to 19 years, are a large and growing segment of the population. At 1.05 billion, this is the biggest-ever generation of young people and their number is increasing rapidly in many countries (UNFPA, 1998a). The population of adolescents will continue to grow because of the growth momentum of age structure and the high fertility rate in the past. Globally, the largest share of adolescents is and will continue to be in Asia, which has 60 per cent of the world population (UNFPA, 1998b).
The ageing population of Brunei Darussalam: Trends and economic consequences
Population ageing has been a topic of considerable interest during the last decade (Knodel, 1999), more so in the developed regions of the world than in the less developed regions. This is so because the process of population ageing has been much slower until recent times in the less developed regions.
Mass media exposure among urban youth in Nepal
The mass media can serve to dis seminate in for mation about sexuality, health and other aspects of well-being to a variety of au diences, in cluding adolescents and young adults. They can improve knowledge and shape perceptions and attitudes about various subjects, and in fluence sexual and reproductive behaviour (Alan Guttmacher Institute, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and National Press Foundation, 1996; McCauley and Salter, 1995; Strasburger, 1989). The effectiveness of media campaigns as preventive strategies for major social and health problems among youth is also well documented (Hall, 1995; Sultz and others, 1989). The mass media, however, can also be a source of misinformation, misperception, and negative ideas and attitudes about reproductive health issues. They may even encourage risky be haviour, for example by promoting in effective means of contraception. Ideally, the media should provide accurate guidance about sexuality, reproductive health and responsible sexual behaviour, especially to young people, who are generally thought to be more susceptible than older adults to their influence. For these reasons, it is important to examine adolescents’ and young adults’ exposure to the mass media and the factors associated with that exposure.
Poverty and mortality in the context of economic growth and urbanization
Asia has always been a demographic giant, but in the second half of the twentieth century it also became an economic giant. In those 50 years, real per capita income (expressed in purchasing power parity) in Asia multiplied by more than five, compared with a multiplication in Western countries of little more than threefold, and in Latin America and Africa by 2.3 and 1.6 times, respectively (Maddison, 2001). During this half century, the world GDP in fixed United States dollars multiplied six times but that of Asia did so by more than 12 times, taking the continent’s proportion of the world economy from 18 to 36 per cent. That growth was fundamental to the mortality revolution outlined here but it was also achieved by massive urbanization, producing huge cities with savage contrasts between the living conditions of the poor and the rich. Asian urban population multiplied over eightfold from under one quarter of a billion to over two billion, and will by 2020 constitute half the population. This was partly the product of hundreds of millions of poor villagers streaming into illegal shanty towns, especially around the largest cities.
Female labour migration to Bangkok: Transforming rural-urban interactions and social networks through globalization
Recent globalization processes have changed significantly the conditions and features of female rural-to-urban labour migration in Thailand, particularly in terms of social networks and rural-urban interactions. The Thai case is specifically interesting because the Thai societal model is often said to support female migration better than other cultures. Thai female migrants encounter globalization, especially when they search for employment in the industries of Bangkok and its vicinity, the site of condensing economic globalization. The “feminization of urban employment” and the “feminization of labour migration” actually represent two sides of the same coin.
Knowledge of sexual health issues among unmarried young people in Nepal
Early and universal marriage has traditionally been the norm in Nepalese culture, although the practise of delayed marriage appears to be on the increase. In 1961, nearly 75 per cent of young women aged 15 to 19 years were married; this figure declined to just under 50 per cent by 1991 and to a low of 40 per cent in 2001 (Mehta 1998; Khanal 1999; NDHS 1996 and 2001). This, along with the advent of reducing age at first menarche due to improved nutritional status, has led to an increase in the window of opportunity for premarital sexual activity to occur.
Demographic impact of AIDs on the Thai population
Thailand continues to feel the impact of a long-standing acquired immunodeficiency syndrome AIDS epidemic. Encouraged by the ready availability of epidemiological and behavioural data, a number of modelling efforts have been undertaken in an attempt to understand the impact of the epidemic since 1990. However, as better models are developed and the course of the epidemic changes, owing to behaviourial modifications as well as advances in therapy, there remains an ongoing need to provide new estimates and projections of the impact of AIDS on the Thai population. This paper projects the important demographic parameters of population size and annual growth rate. In addition, mortality indicators such as the crude death rate, agespecific death rate, infant mortality rate, child mortality rate (1-4 years) and life expectancy at birth are projected. These projections are made through a comparison of two scenarios: in the absence of AIDS and with AIDS. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the potential social and economic impacts of AIDS.