Showing papers in "Population and Development Review in 1991"

Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives.

Abstract: The US Public Health Service recently completed and published Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives. The report is the culmination of a national effort, representing the work of citizens, professionals, organizations, and communities, and the cooperation of numerous federal agencies. The overall goal of the report and its objectives are to prevent unnecessary disease and disability and to achieve a better quality of life for all Americans.

The missing girls of China: a new demographic account.

Abstract: This account of the missing girls in Chinas high sex ratios verifies Hulls analysis and 1) assumes 105-106 boys per 100 girls as evidenced by 240 years of Swedish demographic data 2) verifies the sex ratio for reported second and higher parity births bases on the 2 per thousand fertility survey (SFPC2) in 1988 3) introduces adopted children data from SFPC2 which accounts for 50% of the missing girls and 4) calculates excess female infant deaths based on international demographic data for 130 boys per 100 girls as the expected ratio. The Swedish sex ratio data does not vary significantly between regions by parity or age of mother or by big differences due to race or socioeconomic circumstances and may only be indirectly influenced by these factors in utero as miscarriage or stillbirth. The Swedish data were found comparable to 12 Western industrialized countries 1974-84. It is expected that the larger the cohort the smaller the variation is sex ratios annually such that the Chinese data with 200 times larger cohorts should fall within the narrow range of 105-6 boys per 100 girls of all live births registered. Racial differences between Caucasians and Chinese are not expected because in the 1953 census the sex ratio among infant 500000 in 1987. Using the adoption figures in calculating the sex ratio a closer approximation is obtained. The sex ratio of 114 for infant deaths compared to the 130 average would indicate differential neglect of infant girls or 4 per 1000 excess female infant deaths per live girl births.

Excess female mortality and the balance of the sexes in the population: an estimate of the number of "missing females".

Abstract: The effect of sex differences in mortality and determining the ratio of males to females in the population is considered. There is discussion of the sex ratio what is normative what affects the ratio and different means of substantiating sex differentials. The example is given of the Regional Model Life Tables which indicate a general prevalence of lower death rates for females and the female advantage in life expectancy. The means ratio of male to female life expectancy is .924 at 80 years. In a stationary population when the masculinity ratio at birth is 1.06 the ratio of males to females using West model life tables ranges between .979-1.003. Given a higher male mortality at every age the ratio of males to females is greatest at birth and declines with age i.e. a population with younger age groups will have a higher proportion of males than an older population. The stable population incorporating West life tables has a male ratio of .997 with moderate mortality and with a 2% natural increase has a male ratio of 1.022. The sex ratio is affected by world events such as war. The effect is evidenced in the decline in the sex ratio of 3.7 to 7.1% in the US Japan Austria and Germany following World War II. Another impact on male differentials is the discriminatory treatment of women in developing countries. The 1989 Demographic Yearbook states the following sex ratios: China (1.074) India (1.066) Pakistan (1.105) Bangladesh (1.064) Sri Lanka (1.040; 1.082 in 1970) Egypt (1.047) and the western region of Asia (1.06). Mortality rates are higher for females at all ages and may not necessarily be due to sex differentiated biomedical factors at all ages and may not necessarily be due to sex differentiated biomedical factors such as maternal deaths or tuberculosis. Pravin Visaria attributes the higher male ratio in India to unusually high female mortality rates since 1931. A comparison for 1982-84 supports this view and indicates variation between states. The reason given is traditional adverse discriminatory treatment of females. The preliminary results of the 1991 Indian Census report a ratio of 1.077 or a 6/1000 increase in 10 years. In Punjab villages in India and the Matlab project area of Bangladesh female disadvantage begins in the latter part of the 1st year when breast-feeding supplementation begins. Better health care for males is considered another factor affecting the disadvantage. The lower regard for females is expressed in the 2nd daughter having a 50% higher death rate than sons. An estimate of the magnitude of the problem of a high male ratio is given for china India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal West Asia and Egypt. The total is 60-100 million missing females.

The Human Development Index: "Handle with Care"

Abstract: ECONOMISTS AND POLICYMAKERS have long questioned the emphasis on growth of gross national product per capita (GNP/N) as the singular goal and measure of national development. GNP/N fails to capture the distribution of the benefits of economic progress-in particular, the number and condition of persons living in poverty; and it abstracts from a multitude of specific factors that relate directly to human welfare-for example, the benefits of health, education, and political and social freedoms. The arguments advanced in favor of using the GNP/N goal and measure have been its simplicity, the assertion that it represents a reasonable proxy for several dimensions of human welfare, and most importantly, the absence of an alternative single measure that better approximates human development in the aggregate. Such an alternative measure has recently been offered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its Human Development Report 1990 (HDR) (New York: Oxford University Press), which unveils a "Human Development Index" (HDI). The UNDP appropriately recognizes the considerable difficulty in conceptualizing and measuring the somewhat nebulous condition of human development, and thus notes that the HDI "opens the debate" (p. iii) that will result in refinements of both the analytical framework and the empirical inputs over time. I propose to participate in that debate. I will challenge the usefulness of the conceptual framework of "human development" as specifically represented in the HDI, illustrate the sensitivity of this measure to plausible refinements, and argue that it offers only limited insights beyond those obtained by small modifications to simple measures of economic output. Until the conceptual underpinnings of the HDI are more firmly established, analysts and policymakers are better served by using much simpler measures and

The child and the state in India : child labor and education policy in comparative perspective

Abstract: India has the largest number of non-schoolgoing working children in the world. Why has the government not removed them from the labor force and required that they attend school, as have the governments of all developed and many developing countries? To answer this question, this major comparative study first looks at why and when other states have intervened to protect children against parents and employers. By examining Europe of the nineteenth century, the United States, Japan, and a number of developing countries, Myron Weiner rejects the argument that children were removed from the labor force only when the incomes of the poor rose and employers needed a more skilled labor force. Turning to India, the author shows that its policies arise from fundamental beliefs, embedded in the culture, rather than from economic conditions. Identifying the specific values that elsewhere led educators, social activists, religious leaders, trade unionists, military officers, and government bureaucrats to make education compulsory and to end child labor, he explains why similar groups in India do not play the same role.

Effects of family composition on mortality differentials by sex among children in Matlab Bangladesh.

Abstract: The Matlab Demographic Surveillance System of the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research Bangladesh (ICDDRB) in 1981-82 was used to determine whether sex differences in mortality varied with socioeconomic family conditions or whether major maternal and child health interventions reduced the effect. It was hypothesized that large numbers of children of the same sex in families will be associated with higher child mortality of that sex. Socioeconomic data were obtained from the 1982 Matlab Census. Univariate models were developed and parameters estimated with the PROC LOGIST procedure of the Statistical Analysis System (SAS). Sex differentials appear at >6 months. The total number of observations pooled across age intervals (.5-1 and annually to 5 years) is 57937. 50% of the births occurred in the treatment area. The results for the univariate tabulations show that girls with surviving older sisters have at every age higher death rates than girls without older siblings or with older sons. Having >2 sisters is not a greater disadvantage but having mixed-sex sibships does increase girls mortality. Boys with older male siblings follow the same pattern but to a lesser extent. Girls mortality is more than double that of boys at all 3 ages. There is a high mortality rate for males up to 1 year. Having an older brother in addition to an older sister increases mortality in only 2 out of 6 cases but having more than 1 older brother is worse than having only 1. In the multivariate analysis the log odds of dying are higher for females by .436 and the presence of 1 older sister raises mortality significantly to .558 vs. no siblings (>2 sisters is .573). The log odds of dying are higher for sisters having older brothers vs. no siblings or boys having older brothers. Boys with older sisters have lower mortality. The addition of socioeconomic and residential variables has little effect on the family composition coefficients. Child mortality is higher among the following groups: families with very little dwelling space per capita; families that do not own a radio bicycle watch quilt and lamp or received remittances; and families with an unschooled mother. Treatment area residence significantly lowers child mortality for both sexes equally. Mothers with some schooling offer the same advantage as living in a treatment area. But the presence of an older sister is the most important determinant. Female mortality is somewhat lower in poorer families. The effects of the family planning program on birth order distributions are likely to accumulate over time. The major conclusion is that high female mortality is due to conscious selective neglect.

Limits to human life expectancy: evidence prospects and implications.

Abstract: Identifying limits to human life expectancy and life span is difficult because survival is determined by the individuals physiology exogenous influences and their interaction over time. To explore theoretical limits the authors examine the life expectancy of selected populations with good health behavior and apply a multivariate risk-factor model to longitudinal data. The risk-factor model and the population data produce consistent estimates of a lower bound of the theoretical limit to human life expectancy. The results suggest that such limits may be higher than estimates obtained by extrapolating human mortality trends which necessarily are dependent on historical conditions. The investigation emphasizes the need to use information on individual physiological processes and health changes prior to death in addition to mortality or endpoint data in making estimates. The low-risk populations studied are from the United States and Japan. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA) (EXCERPT)

Who cares for America's children? : child care policy for the 1990s

Abstract: Few issues have aroused more heated public debate than that of day care for children of working parents. Who should be responsible for providing child care--government, employers, schools, communities? What types of care are best? This volume explores the critical need for a more coherent policy on child care and offers recommendations for the actions needed to develop such a policy. Who Cares for America's Children? looks at the barriers to developing a national child care policy, evaluates the factors in child care that are most important to children's development, and examines ways of protecting children's physical well-being and fostering their development in child care settings. It also describes the "patchwork quilt" of child care services currently in use in America and the diversity of support programs available, such as referral services. Child care providers (whether government, employers, commercial for-profit, or not-for-profit), child care specialists, policymakers, researchers, and concerned parents will find this comprehensive volume an invaluable resource on child care in America.

Women's Schooling and Child Care in the Demographic Transition: A Mexican Case Study

Abstract: THE QUESTION OF HOW FEMALE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE influences fertility and child survival in developing countries has emerged as an important problem in the analysis of demographic change and the evaluation of health and population policies. An extensive research literature based on national surveys and censuses conducted in developing countries shows maternal schooling to be a highly consistent household-level predictor of reduced fertility and child mortality, even when other socioeconomic factors are controlled.' This has led to proposals for expanding female school enrollment as a means of facilitating future reductions in fertility and child mortality rates in those countries where they remain high-despite scant information on the processes through which these reductions would occur.2 Gender equality in access to schooling can be justified without reference to the consequences for health and population growth, let alone scientific analysis of the processes involved. But consideration of expanded opportunities for schooling as an instrument of health and population policy calls for a deeper understanding of how the formal education of women affects their reproductive and health behavior.3 The research reported in this article was designed to contribute to that understanding through community-level studies in Mexico. The robust and widespread associations found between women's schooling and demographic variables are at once extremely familiar and

Undocumented migration to the United States : IRCA and the experience of the 1980s

Abstract: The authors rely on several different data sources to tackle the problem of estimating whether IRCA has had an impact on illegal immigration to the United States, and employ a variety of approaches to tease out information on trends. Some present results based on data collected in Mexico, the single most important source country--important as a supplement to get a complete picture of changing patterns of illegal immigration.

The unsettled relationship : labor migration and economic development

Abstract: Foreword by Diego C. Asencio Introduction Conceptual and Theoretical Issues in International Labor Migration Labor Migration and Development: Research and Policy Issues by Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Philip L. Martin Labor Migration: Theory and Reality by Philip L. Martin Labor Migration and Development in Africa Binational Communities and Labor Circulation in Sub-Saharan Africa by Aderanti Adepoju International Labor Migration in Southern Africa by Timothy T. Thahane Labor Migration and Development in Greece and Turkey Migration and Development in Greece: The Unfinished Story by Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Ira Emke-Poulopolos Migration without Development: The Case of Turkey by Ali S. Gitmez Labor Migration and Development in Asian Emigration Countries Migration from Pakistan to the Middle East by Shahid Javed Burki Emigration and Development in South and Southeast Asia by Charles Stahl and Ansanul Habib Labor Migration and Development in Latin America, Mexico, and the Caribbean The Effects of International Migration on Latin America by Sergio Diaz-Briquets Caribbean Emigration and Development by Patricia R. Pessar The Unsettled Relationship between Migration and Development Migration and Development: The Unsettled Relationship by Demetrios G. Papademetriou Immigration and Economic Development by the Commission for the Study of International Migration and Cooperative Economic Development Appendix: Social Indicators of Development References Index

The KAP-Gap and the Unmet Need for Contraception

Abstract: THE IMPLEMENTATION OF VOLUNTARY family planning programs has been the principal policy initiative pursued by governments in the developing world that wish to reduce rapid population growth. The main rationale for this programmatic approach is an unfulfilled demand for contraception that presumably exists in many populations. Freedman and Coombs summarize the reason why such a potential demand is likely to be found in developing countries:

The destabilization of the traditional Yoruba sexual system.

Abstract: Ekiti Yoruba society in Nigeria is characterized like many African societies by high levels of polygyny necessitating a late age of male marriage and by a long duration of postpartum female sexual abstinence. Thus about three-quarters of postpubertal males have no current access to a wife for sexual activity in a society that does not enforce male continence. The contemporary solution is a high level of male premarital and extramarital sexuality which is partly dependent on the availability of commercial sex in urban areas later female marriage and significant numbers of divorced separated or widowed women who have not remarried. It has been claimed that traditional society was more restricted in each of these regards. Yet it appears probable that there was an even more constrained access to marital sexuality and no greater enforcement of male continence in the past. This investigation employs surveys anthropological study and historical reports to describe the traditional sexual system and to show when and why it changed. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)

The Ideological Origins of the Population Association of America

Abstract: Discussing the origins of the field of population requires looking at it in 1 of 2 ways: either a narrow view of the past based on the contemporary efforts of demographers or a broad view of the past that encompasses any and all people or disciplines that were involved in population issues at the time. This essay deals with the later view and uses a document from 1930 to illustrate its point. The Population Association of America (PAA) was founded by 13 people from diverse academic and activist backgrounds. The 1st meeting was used to solidify what was at the time chaotic mixture of differing ideologies and interests. At the 1st meeting a list of 70 other people who were to be invited to join was created. This list and the members of the 1st meeting serve as an excellent basis to see who was concerned about population issues. Motives for wanting to study and effect population have from the beginning been primarily based on race and class. Darwin Spencer and Malthus were all influential in shaping the beliefs of academics and educated Americans. There were 4 primary interests of the founding members of PAA: immigration restriction eugenics birth control and population science. All the members could be roughly divided into 2 classes: scientists or activists. In the beginning of the population field the activists outnumbered the scientists. People became interested in population because they saw it as a vehicle to be used to further their own agendas. Many of these agendas were contradictory. The biggest issue studied in the beginning of the population field was the fertility decline of middle and upper class white Americans and the high fertility rates of lower class non-white Americans (including southern and eastern Europeans). Today the field of population is predominated by scientists; however laws that effect population are still guided primarily by ideology rather than the good of the commonwealth. Laws that restrict womens reproductive rights immigration and naturalization are still biased for and against certain groups based on race and class.

Urbanization in history. A process of dynamic interactions.

Abstract: This book represents an important contribution to the history of urbanization. The introduction offers a clear and instructive discussion of fundamental concepts, processes and measurement problems, summarizes latest research findings and goes on to detect new topics of particular current interest. Four principal areas of contemporary research on urbanization are covered: urban hierarchies and networks, urban-rural economic links, and migration and demographic patterns. The issues are discussed both in general terms and in the context of specific countries, cities and historical periods. New areas of analysis, such as the study of migration flows by age, sex or social group, and the comparative east-west apprach of several of the chapters will serve to broaden the traditional scope of research and stimulate further work in the field.

Population change in Iran 1966-86: a stalled demographic transition?

Abstract: A researcher used censuses and surveys to analyze 1966-1976 and 1976-1986 population data to compare population growth and fertility of Iran under the Shah with those of theocratic Iran. Between 1966-1976 the government introduced policies which improved the legal and social status of women and promoted fertility control. These resulted in a reduction in the annual population growth rate from 3.1-2.7%. In fact the crude birth rate fell from 49-42.7. Yet the rural birth rate (49.1) was still 1 of the highest in the world. A rising age at marriage contributed to the fall in fertility. For example in 1966 46.5% of 15-19 year old women were married compared to 34.2% in 1976. In fact the singulate mean age of marriage increased from 18.4-19.7. Further the percentage of women of reproductive age who were married decreased 81-75% between 1966-1976. Moreover age specific fertility rates fell for all 20-40 year old women. Indeed total fertility declined from 7.7-6.3. This was more pronounced in urban areas (6.9-4.4). As a result of the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war population size increased rapidly from 33.7-49.4 million (1976-1986)--3.8% annual growth rate. Further the crude birth rate increased 12% (1986 47.6). In addition at least 1.8 million people from Afghanistan sought refuge in Iran. Moreover the age at 1st marriage was not any higher than in 1986 than it was in 1976. In fact the government reduced the legal age to 9 for females and 14 for males. Further it abolished the family planning council. In addition the proportion of 15-59 year old married women only decreased 3% between 1976-1986 compared to 6% between 1976-1986. Age specific fertility rates increased significantly especially for 40-44 year olds (32%). Further total fertility rose to 7 and the increase was especially high in urban areas (16% increase compared to 8% in rural areas). As of the end of 1991 there were indications that the government recognized the population problem and had taken steps to promote family planning.

Preference changes among American youth: family work and goods aspirations 1976-86.

Abstract: This article examines trends and differentials by sex in both absolute and relative preferences among American young adults from 1976 to 1986. If one considers marriage and family formation preferences alone the desires of American youth to marry and have children changed very little over this period. When one shifts from absolute to relative preferences desires for goods for oneself have increased substantially and for leisure and goods for ones children moderately. Considered in this context the stability in marriage and family preferences implies a shift in relative preferences against children. This is a revised version of a paper originally presented at the 1990 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America (see Population Index Vol. 56 No. 3 Fall 1990 p. 420). (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA) (EXCERPT)

Creating New Traditions in Modern Chinese Populations: Aiming for Birth in the Year of the Dragon

Abstract: The dragon appears every 12 years in the Chinese zodiac and the Dragon Year is considered favorable to new business marriages and births. In recent Dragon Years of 1976 and 1988 fertility rates surged among the Chinese in Taiwan Hong Kong especially in Singapore and Malaysia (24- 26%). However this phenomenon did not occur in the Peoples Republic of China and before 1976 such preference had not been found in any Chinese population. The Dragon Year baby boom seems to have stemmed from hazily defined folk beliefs. A field study was conducted in the fall of 1990 comparing Chinese of different social backgrounds from TAipei Taichung Hong Kong Guangzhou Penang and Singapore. Data including vital statistics were collected and Chinese and English language daily newspaper and periodicals were scanned. Demographic history between 1916-88 shows that before 1964 there were no Dragon Year preferences anywhere. By 1976 the Dragon Year crude birth rate (CBR) ranged from +16% in Taiwan to -13% in China. In 1988 the CBR was +25% in Singapore and Malaysia and -4% in China. Marital fertility was low in preindustrial China compared with Europe as apothecaries carried contraceptives sexual behavior in marriage was regulate and beliefs in zodiacal animals in astrology impacted births. In 1950 births fell among Chinese in Singapore in the ominous Year of the Tiger. There was also a fall in fertility during the 1986 Tiger Year in Singapore Malaysia Taiwan and Hong Kong. Zodiacal birth timing was possibly influences by the 1966 Japanese Year of the Fire Horse that cut fertility by 25% to forestall the birth of girls destined to murder their future husbands. Other explanations include the increase of birth cohorts owing to the exodus of refugees after the Communist takeover in China the resurgence of the economies and the adherence to tradition among emigre Chinese for preservation of Chinese identity.

Disease, mortality and population in transition : epidemiological-demographic change in England since the eighteenth century as part of a global phenomenon

Abstract: invest in child welfare programs? He also documents the history of different child welfare movements and examines the "GOBI" strategy pursued by UNICEF. George Kent is a savvy political scientist; his evaluation of the different strategies seeking to enhance child survival and of the political opposition to them is particularly interesting. The chapter that questions the argument that children should be treated as human capital-that national resources invested to alleviate malnutrition of children and to improve their health will ultimately benefit the nation-provides an excellent example. Kent examines the link between health, nutrition, and productivity and finds little empirical evidence to support the hypothesized relationship. The chapter also discusses the moral foundation of using the human capital approach to justify national child nutrition and survival programs. If economic return is the primary consideration, would we invest in the elderly or in handicapped children? Kent argues that although the human capital argument may be politically potent, it is often empirically incorrect and morally defective. The argument has got it backwards, he asserts, for it assumes that the function of people is to serve the economy, rather than the reverse. Bibliography, index.-S.D.

Pacific Island Movement and Socioeconomic Change: Metaphors of Misunderstanding

Abstract: The primary thrust of this article on shifting population movement in the Pacific Islands is that images and metaphors do not convey the current ebb and flow of Pacific Island movement nor the volatile and ambiguous character. The history of the population movement is briefly summarized for the period of the 1950s-80s. In the reconstruction of mobility in the upper Wainimala Valley of Fiji by Margaret Chung it is reported that she found evidence of a drift pattern of redistribution of people born in central Viti Levu prior to 1870 and between 1924 and 1970. The intervening years held dislocation due to war and stabilization of rural settlement due to colonial government. There is discussion of residential patterns of change by generation such that the impression made is that between 1910-70 3 out of 5 persons born in wainimala tikina (303 out of 526 leave for a period longer than a year. The drift is between Wainimala and other rural places and communities and not the popular metaphor of rural/urban type. This occurs inspite of the good road access on Viti Levu to the capital of Suva and intermediate cities of Lautoka and Ba wage differentials and urban employment. It is known among rural villagers that urban living eats up money and the message is conveyed through kinsfolk by work of mouth. The socioeconomic pragmatism operates; going away to wage work is incorporated within a semisubsistence system of agricultural production and is mediated and circumscribed by family needs. The 8th and 9th development plans of Fiji (1981-90) addressing the need to stem the rural/urban drift tries to respond to an inappropriate metaphor and assures that socioeconomic benefits for the inland districts like Wainimala will be illusory. The next major section is concerned with a discussion of the concepts of emigration and depopulation using Yvonne Underhills research on whether atoll households have incorporated movement as a socioeconomic strategy for collective survival within the past 25 years (Manihiki populations). Distinctions are made between de facto families and de jure households and the observation is made that intense circuits of movement are tied to a common point of origin. In following the Manihiki society it was found that movement satisfied various socioeconomic objectives but was linked to moving way to stay behind. The 3rd section is devoted to freedom of movement and the interaction with the law. The final chapter amplifies the theme of group movement as ambiguity and paradox. The clan the lineage and the extended family have not been used as the frame of reference for understanding the changing patterns and recent case studies reflect the difficulties in applying conventional models. There is ignorance of the obvious fact that migration and circulation are an integral part of a broader regional system of mobility connecting individuals the families and the wider communities of 22 political entities.

Mortality Reductions from Health Interventions: The Case of Immunization in Bangladesh

Abstract: Researchers used data from rural Matlab Bangladesh to examine potential mortality reductions from immunization. 20.5% of all neonatal deaths were attributable to tetanus. These deaths were very high during days 1-2. Nevertheless the number of deaths attributable to tetanus compared to all causes of death showed no tetanus deaths during days 1-4 (the primary risk period) and tetanus deaths were clustered in days 7-8. Moreover tetanus deaths accounted for 45% of all deaths during days 4-14. Indeed about 50% of all neonatal deaths occurred before tetanus could even contribute to mortality. The analysis indicated that administration of tetanus toxoid would result in reductions of neonatal mortality between 16-19 deaths/1000. Pertussis and measles vaccinations did not affect neonatal mortality rates. Tetanus toxoid and pertussis vaccinations would contribute to a reduction of <2 deaths during the postneonatal period (1-11 months). Measles vaccinations would only cause a slight reduction in postneonatal mortality (1-5 deaths). The analysis showed that measles vaccinations hold the greatest promise for reduction in mortality in children 1-4 years old. For example the reductions ranged from 11-40.2. Tetanus and pertussis vaccinations in this age group contributed to only reductions of .4-1.2 deaths. The results demonstrated that immunizations do not significantly reduce deaths during the early months of life but measles vaccinations do reduce deaths in 1-4 year olds. Indeed the major causes of early infant mortality (low birth weight/prematurity acute respiratory infection dysentery and chronic diarrhea/ severe malnutrition) are not necessarily considered in primary health care strategies e.g. growth monitoring oral rehydration breast feeding and immunization (GOBI) strategy. Immunization programs should not be abandoned however.

The African sexual system: comment on Caldwell et al.

Abstract: This rebuttal to the Caldwell et al article positing a distinctly African sexual system is based on pointing out the bias in selecting data that may not be representative or universal. The authors identify methodological flaws and ethnographic omissions. It is concluded that there is evidence that does not support the existence of a distinctive African pattern of sexuality but rather a wide variety of patterns in sub-Saharan Africa. Many African populations have very strict controls over female sexuality. The social context of AIDS transmission in Africa must take into account the economics of increasing urbanization labor migration urban poverty and poor sanitation. Sexual practices alone should not be isolated in any policy-oriented study. Education and improved living conditions are 2 important intervention strategies. In the discussion of methodological flaws it is mentioned that there were no moral and institutional limitations on sexual practices of women in particular and the nature of the sexual system leads to the spread of AIDS. Substantiation of this thesis was made without putting the studies in the context of representativeness or time frame. Even in the referenced studies there are cautionary warnings about the lack of representativeness. The 1st flaw then is the absence of explicit criteria of inclusion/exclusion of the literature. The 2nd flaw is that equal weight is given to studies conducted in the 1920s and present ones with no recognition of change. The 3rd flaw is that too few examples are used to extrapolate to the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. The 4th flaw is the inappropriate use of the central piece of supporting evidence the Molnos collection. Ethnographic omissions distort the original conceptualizations. A primary source provided by Goody of comparative Eurasian and African societies presents for example African sexuality as deriving from the economic context but Caldwell et al. present it as a determinant in and of itself. Other studies cited which complicate their thesis are minimized. Although there is agreement that sexuality is a neglected theme in the ethnographic literature there is ample published evidence to contradict the idea that there is a sexual pattern general to Africa and to support the notion that sexuality is regulated. There is considerable support for a diverse view of sexual behavior and lineage ties have weakened and lead to conjugal instability matrifocality and single parenthood not the nuclear family.

Migration and recession: Arab labor mobility in the Middle East 1982-89.

Abstract: This article examines trends in Arab labor mobility in the Middle East during the economic recession of 1982-89. Political factors are seen as at least as important as economic considerations in determining the volume and direction of migration in the region. A number of countries in the Middle East remain heavily dependent on Arab foreign workers who fill essential positions in the fields of education health industry and construction. The impact of return migration on the sending countries is also addressed. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA) (EXCERPT)

Population growth and reproduction in sub-Saharan Africa : technical analyses of fertility and its consequences

Abstract: Population growth rates in sub Saharan Africa are the highest of any region in the world. From 1980 to 1985, its growth rate was 3.2 percent a year, whereas in Latin America, the next highest, it was 2.3 percent and in Europe it was only 0.3 percent. This report represents a selection of papers on consequences of population growth, underlying high fertility patterns, and cultural environment regulating reproduction in the region. The volume begins with information on demographic conditions in the region ( part 1 ). In part 2, the economic consequences of population growth are viewed from the perspectives of agriculture, household energy, resources and employment. The urban component of population growth and strategies for dealing with it are also discussed. Part 3 contains analyses of the impact of reproductive patterns upon the health of women and young children and of the region's high fertility upon the family and its resources. Part 4 deals with the main component of rapid population growth and very high fertility. This part includes analyses of the proximate determinants of fertility, how they operate within sub Saharan African cultures, the constraints enforced by culture and tradition and the causes and consequences of the high demand for children and low demand for contraception. Part 5 traces the changes during the past decade in the way sub Saharan government leaders and scholars view population policy and development .