Notes on Mortality Influencing Policies to Control the Population

Policies relating to mortality obviously always aim at reducing mortality. After the Second World War, the World Health Organisation introduced a dramatic concept of public health and resolved to eradicate disease.

Most countries have national programmes to eradicate “mass killers” such as malaria, cholera, etc. The concept of positive health introduced by the World Health Organisation, as being “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity has also been accepted as a goal even by developing countries.

The result of population policies relating to health have resulted in unprecedented declines in mortality in developing countries irrespective of the level of their socio-economic development.

A United Nations publications reports that, since 1918, when influenza caused 25 million deaths in the world, not a single pandemic has occurred.

In a review of population policies and programme various governments, specially prepared for the World Population Conference in 1974, the United Nations Secretariat states: As might be expected, all Governments have formulated policies designed to reduce morbidity and mortality, and none has considered acceptable a policy of permitting survival rates to remain low in order to prevent further increases in rates of national population growth.”

In this regard, it is also significant that the final version of the controversial World Population Plan of Action, adopted at the United Nations World Population Conference in Bucharest in 1974, refers to only one targeted ideal mortality.

“Countries with the highest mortality levels should aim, by 1985, to have an expectation of life at birth of at least 50 years and an infant mortality rate of less than 120 per thousand live births.”

It was, however, later feared, both in national and international circles, that the morality targets set in the World Population plan of Action for 1985 would not be met, due to the slowing down of the progress in reduction of mortality during the past few years.

The International Conference on Primary Health Care, held at Alma Ata, USSR in 1978 “emphasised needs for health education and adaptation of public health measures to the social and cultural settings as well as the technical requirements in each area, highest priority for services to the neediest and to underprivileged groups such as children, women, and the rural population, and the inclusion of birth control services in maternal and child health programmes.

“The Alma Ata Declaration issued at this conference organized jointly by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s fund emphasized.

“A main social target of Governments, international organizations and the whole world community should be the attainment by all people of the world by the year 2000 of a level, of health that will permit them to lead a socially and economically productive life.” Thus all countries of the world are now committed to the objective of “Health for All by 2000 A.D.”