United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

Why is Funding for Population Activities Declining? (PDF, 34 KB)
By Steven W. Sinding

Family Transition in South Asia: Provision of Social Services and Social Protection (PDF, 161 KB)

By W. Indralal De Silva

An accelerated creation of nuclear families occurred with the process of modernization when large-scale migration from rural to urban areas occurred largely among young adults who left their villages and extended family systems, seeking employment in urban centres. This blurred their memory of the extended family model. Owing to the large-scale occupational mobility of younger generations to new geographical horizons and the associated erosion of the extended family system, new social problems and disorders emerged. It paved the way for long-term demographic implications, such as declining fertility, as demonstrated by low birth rates, and ageing and increased age at marriage for both genders. Thus the structure and functions of a nuclear family have a different form than when compared with the extended family. Families have moved from being extended to being more isolated. Consequently, many modern nuclear families are in crisis, both socially and economically, making the provision of social services and protection a necessity. Most of the welfare programmes are remedial in nature, making recipients of welfare services dependants. Therefore, social services have become a burden on national economies. The slower growth rate of economies in South Asian countries has forced national Governments to borrow money from international agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Since, those organizations advise governments to cut down expenditures on social services, some social service experts have suggested community-based services as an able alternative. However, without government assistance and support, communities will not be able to initiate welfare services of their own, though they are much needed by the people in South Asia.

Ageing, Activities of Daily Living Disabilities and the Need for Public Health Initiatives: Some Evidence from a Household Survey in Delhi (PDF, 190 KB)
By Moneer Alam and M. Mukherjee

Using a survey of 1,000 households in Delhi with elderly co-residents, this paper attempts to examine the prevalence of activities of daily living (ADL) impairments in two health domains of older adults in India physical and sensory. Three issues have been examined more specifically: (a) the prevalence of ADL dependence among the aged by gender and four socio-economic groups, (b) some of their causal risk factors and (c) public health as a route to forestall some of those conditions. The results indicate a very high prevalence of non-senescent ADL impairments in both the health domains, with the causal risk factors involving frailties, diseases, sedentary lifestyle and poor financial status of the aged. Women were found to have suffered more. This paper therefore derives a set of public health initiatives as a mechanism to prevent (or at least forestall) large-scale slippage in the functional health of the aged. Arguably, those interventions may also help the country to achieve its ultimate objectives of healthy and active ageing.

The New Zealand Health Care and Disability System (PDF, 264 KB)
By Durga S. Rauniyar

The purpose of this paper is to give a general overview of the New Zealand health and disability system. Following a brief description of the demographics of the population in New Zealand, the paper focuses on some important health outcome measures. Although significant achievements have been made in the New Zealand health sector, a greater proportion of people are being hospitalized for conditions that could theoretically be prevented through population-based health promotion strategies, possibly in combination with primary health care and support services. To address those emerging health issues the Government of New Zealand has implemented a number of strategies under the framework of the New Zealand Health Strategy.

Changes in Age-sex Mortality Patterns and Causes of Death in the Republic of Korea (PDF, 91 KB)
By Tai-Hun Kim

This study analyses the patterns of and changes in mortality in the Republic of Korea in order to enhance understanding of the mortality transition in that country.
The mortality patterns of males used to match the Far Eastern Pattern until the 1980s, but it has been approaching the Western standard since then. Changes in mortality pattern in the Republic of Korea suggest that the Far Eastern Patterns is a phenomenon of incomplete mortality transition that may be expected to disappear with further declines in mortality.
The specific causes of death have also changed in the process of the mortality transition. In 1966, pneumonia and tuberculosis were the most important causes of death. In the 1990s, malignant neoplasms, cerebrovascular and heart diseases, as well as traffic accidents have emerged as the major causes of death. Chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis ranked as one of the top five causes of death in 2000.