• Perinatal Mortality in Viet Nam (pdf format, 243 KB)
  By Tran Thi Trung Chien, Trinh Huu Vach, Robert Hanenberg, Luong Xuan Hien and Bui Huu Chuan
  

The rate of perinatal mortality, as an index of the care a women receives before, during and just after childbirth, is useful for measuring the quality of health services for pregnent women. This article presents the results of an investigation into perinatal mortality in Viet Nam. It reports the results of a survey conducted in seven provinces in the period July 1997 to June 1999. The rate of perinatal mortality was 23 per thousand. This compares with 53 per thousand for the world as a whole, 11 per thousand in developed countries and 57 per thousand in developing countries. In Viet Nam there was considerable variation by province, however. The country's goal is to reduce perinatal mortality to 18 per thousand by 2010. Two sets of factors, one having to do with family planning and the other with the quality of care given to pregnent women, were found to be associated with perinatal mortality, and subject to government interventions.

• Parental Consanguinity and Offspring Mortality:
  The Search for Possible Linkage in the Indian Context (pdf format, 315 KB)
  By Sushanta K. Banerjee and T.K. Roy
  This article sheds light on the issues of what are the genetic consequences of marriage among biological relatives and how they are likely to affect the incidence of offspring mortality in India. The recently conducted National Family Health Survey offered an excellent opportunity to provide some useful answers to these questions by exploring the extent of mortality among the offspring of consanguineous versus non-consanguineous parents. The study reveals elevated risks of close consanguineous parents after controlling for the effect of all possible non-genetic factors through a multivariate technique. It concludes with a set of recommendations for policy purposes.
• The Ageing Population of Brunei Darussalam:
  Trends and Economic Consequences ( pdf format 293 KB)
  By Parvez Azim
  

Although the elderly in Brunei Darussalam are small in number, the process of population ageing is occurring quite rapidly. Further, by 2011, the percentage of women in the older population will far exceed that of men. The article discusses various implications for social security of the ageing population, including the possibility of taxing temporary foreign workers, among other policy measures, in an effort to alleviate the burden on state coffers.

Demographers' Notebook

• Socio-demographic and Economic Characteristics of Migrant Heads of Households and the Consequences of their Migration in Fiji, 1992-1993
  By Dharma Chandra
  ( pdf format 358 KB)

Books

• Adolesent Reproductive Health in the Asian and Pacific Region, Asian Population Studies Series No. 156, (New York, United Nations, 2001) 62 pages.

This study presents reproductive health issues on adolescents in the region based on demographic trends and other socio-economic factors that influence sexual behaviour among young people. Among these factors are the widening gap between sexual maturity and age at marriage, which often results in premarital sexual activity, and the continuing prevalence of adolescent marriage and the low use of contraceptives during adolescence, which results in high fertility among this young age group. Other factors include inadequate access to correct information, peer pressure and erosion of the role of the family, and gender power imbalances, among others. The adverse health consequences of adolescent fertility for both mothers and children include high rates of maternal mortality and infant mortality. The vulnerability of adolescents to sexually transmitted diseases, and early childbearing are also covered in the study, which concludes with a number of policy recommendations.

• Mortality and Poverty in the ESCAP Region: Identifying High-achieving Countries, Asian Population Studies Series No. 157, (New York, United Nations, 2001) 33 pages.

This study presents original empirical analyses on the relationship between child and maternal mortality in countries of the ESCAP region and various goals under the Millennium Declaration, an instrument adopted at the fifty-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2001. After providing an overview of the child and maternal mortality situation in the region, it identifies the goals most closely correlated with the indicators of these two types of mortality. It also identifies the countries that have achieved significantly lower or higher mortality levels than would be expected on the basis of their standing on other Millennium Declaration indicators. The idea is that high achievers could help to pinpoint common best practices and policies that enabled these countries to overcome unfavourable social or economic conditions. It concludes with a set of policy implications and suggestions for further research.