Population Processes

• Where in the world are children dying


  • India
  • Nigeria: 714,000
  • Pakistan: 400,000
  • The Democratic Republic of Congo: 300,000
  • Ethiopia: 189,000
  • China: 156,000
• Factors that determine the total number of children dying


  • Likelihood a newborn will die
  • Number of children born
• Leading causes of child death globally


  • Pneumonia and other lower respiratory diseases (15% of deaths)
  • Preterm births and neonatal disorders (12% of deaths)
  • Diarrheal diseases (10% of deaths)
  • Congenital defects (9% of deaths)
  • Infectious diseases (45% of deaths)
• The number of deaths from AIDS and the deaths caused by invasive non-typhoidal salmonella (INTS) have increased
• Boys are more vulnerable than girls
• Reasons boys are more vulnerable


  • Higher risk of complications in the first few days of life: preterm births, asphyxia, birth defects and heart anomalies
  • More likely to be born prematurely
  • Higher birth weight which can increase the risk of waiting to term to deliver
  • Higher risk of delayed physiological function and adverse neurological outcomes
  • Higher risk of infectious diseases like syphilis, malaria, respiratory infections, tetanus and diarrheal diseases
  • Weaker immune systems due to sex hormones
• The male disadvantage lies in the biological differences between the sexes, specifically differences in maturity, sex chromosomes, and hormones
• Vaccines


  Introduce a weakened or killed form of the pathogen that makes us ill to induce acquired immunity so that when the body encounters the real disease-causing agent it is ready for a defense
• Herd immunity


  Provides a protective barrier, especially also for those who cannot be vaccinated, by reducing or stopping disease transmission when a sufficient proportion of the population is immune
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests vaccination prevents 2-3 million deaths yearly
• Variolation


  An early form of vaccination, but with large risks as those variolated could contract the more severe form of smallpox and die, and they could also transmit the disease to others
• Vaccination


  A method of inoculation developed by Edward Jenner using matter from a cowpox lesion, named after the Latin word 'vacca' meaning cow
• By the middle of the 20th-century confidence grew that smallpox could be the first disease that humankind might be able to eradicate
• Infant mortality


  Death of an infant under one year of age
• Infant mortality rate (IMR)


  Measures the risk of dying the first year of life, reflecting the general health condition of a community
• Child mortality


  Probability of dying between the first and fifth birthday
• Under-five mortality


  Probability of dying between birth and the fifth birthday
• Maternal death


  Death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management
• Direct obstetric/maternal deaths


  Deaths resulting from complications of pregnancy/delivery/postpartum, from interventions, omissions or incorrect treatment, or from a chain of events resulting from any of the above
• Indirect obstetric/maternal deaths


  Deaths due to a disease (other than HIV) aggravated by the effects of pregnancy
• Demography


  The study of the determinants and consequences of population change, concerned with everything that influences and can be influenced by population size, growth or decline, processes, spatial distribution, structure, and characteristics
• Demographic Transition Theory


  A set of transitions including health and mortality, fertility, age, migration, urban, and family and household transitions, with the health and mortality transition usually triggering the rest
• Health and Mortality Transition


  Begins with a decline in mortality, the shift from deaths at younger ages due to communicable disease to deaths at older ages due to degenerative diseases
• Fertility Transition


  The shift from natural (and high) to controlled (and low) fertility, typically in a delayed response to the health and mortality transition
• Age Transition


  The predictable changes in the age structure brought about by the mortality and fertility transitions, producing social and economic reactions as societies adjust to constantly changing age distributions
• Urban Transition


  The rapid growth of the population occasioned by the pattern of mortality declining sooner and more rapidly than fertility, leading to overpopulation of rural areas and migration towards urban areas
• Family and Household Transition


  Occasioned by the massive structural changes that accompany longer life, lower fertility, an older age structure, and urban instead of rural residence
• Mortality


  The pattern of death
• Morbidity


  The prevalence of disease in a population
• Life Span


  The oldest age to which human beings can survive
• Longevity


  The ability to remain alive from one year to the next—the ability to resist death
• Life Expectancy


  The statistically average length of life (or average expected age at death)