This report applied two types of analysis to two types of data to try to quantify any short-term effect economic criswas and adjustment might have had on child mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa. First the aggregate data for ten countries covered by the Demographic and Health Surveys project was...

Even if per-user costs are controlled or reduced, the rising demand for family planning services will far outstrip governments'and donors'financial resources in most parts of the developing world. This"resource gap"lies at the heart of donor-sponsored initiatives to involve the private sector in...

By international standards, and given its relatively low per capita income, Vietnam has achieved substantial reductions in, and low levels of, infant and under-five mortality. The authors review existing evidence and provide new evidence on whether, under the economic liberalization program...

Using data assembled from the Demographic Health Surveys of over 50 countries and from the National Family Health Surveys of individual states in India, the authors create a new data set of comparable indicators of gender disparity. They establish three findings: 1) As is by now well-known, the...

Unlike many other countries in Latin America, Guatemala is only at the beginning of the demographic, and epidemiological transition. The population is young, is growing rapidly, and is still primarily rural. Guatemala is among the worst performers in terms of health outcomes in Latin America,...

This study assesses the potential demand by the public sector for a preventive HIV/AIDS vaccine in Brazil and the costs of alternative strategies for a vaccination program. Brazil has a mature AIDS epidemic: the percent of the population living with HIV or AIDS (about 0.6 percent of adults) is...

The authors delineate two different algorithms for the purchase of AIDS vaccines, to show how differences in policy objectives can greatly affect projections of the number of courses of vaccine that will be needed. They consider a hypothetical vaccine costing ten dollars to produce, and offering...

By the early 1960s, Colombia was one of the fastest growing countries in the world. With a total fertility rate of seven children per woman and a rapidly declining mortality, its population was growing at a rate that would double in size every 22 years. But from the years 1973 - 1985 the...

Many people see an effective preventive AIDS vaccine as the best solution to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Ten years ago many scientists had hoped that a vaccine would be available by now. Most scientists are still optimistic that vaccines will be developed and many candidates are being tested....

Over the past three decades, China has made commendable strides in improving the health status of its population. Between 1965 and 1995, its infant mortality rate declined from 90 per 1,000 live births to 36. During the same period, life expectancy at birth rose from 55 to 69 years and the...