High Mortality Flashcards
Define ‘public health’.
The health of the population as a whole, especially as monitored, regulated, and promoted by the state.
Define ‘sanitation phase’.
A period which leads to reduction of infectious diseases by changing environmental conditions.
Define ‘epidemiology’.
The study of the distribution and determinants of disease in population.
Define ‘demographic transition’.
The transition from high mortality from epidemics and demographic crises and high fertility to low mortality and low fertility with an interim period of population expansion.
List the 5 stages of demographic transition.
- High fluctuating: high mortality with crises and high fertility.
- Early expanding: declining fertility, increasing population.
- Late expanding: declining fertility, declining mortality, increasing population.
- Low fluctuating: low mortality and low fertility, stable population.
- Declining: sub replacement fertility
Define ‘working age’.
How many people within the population are capable of working to sustain the two dependent groups.
What are the two dependent groups of the population?
- The young (0-14)
- The elderly (60+)
What are the features of the high fluctuating stage?
- Birth rates are high
- Death rates are high
List reasons as to why birth rates are high in the high fluctuating and early expanding stage.
- Cultural or religious beliefs encouraging large families to reproduce
- Lack of contraception
- Parents have lots of children to compensate for
- High infant mortality
- Children can help work on the land
List reasons as to why death rates are high in the high fluctuating stage.
- Diseases
- Famine / poor diet
- Poor hygiene
- Little medical science
What are the features of the early expanding stage?
- Birth rates are high
- Death rates start to decrease
List reasons as to why death rates start to decrease in the early expanding stage.
- Improvements in medical care
- Sanitation, water supply
- Supply and cleanliness of food
What are the features of the late expanding stage?
- Birth rates start to decline
- Death rates continue to fall
List reasons as to why birth rates start to decline in the late expanding and the late fluctuating stage.
- Increased access to contraception
- Infant mortality falls
- Industrialisation / mechanisation => less
workers required - Wealth increases => ‘materialistic world’
List reasons as to why death rates continue to fall in the late expanding stage.
- Developments of sanitation e.g. underground sewers
- Medical development e.g. penicillin, surgery
What are the features of the late fluctuating stage?
- Birth rates stay low
- Death rates stay low
What are the features of the declining stage?
- Birth rates are very low
- Death rates rise slightly
Why are birth rates very low in the declining stage?
Countries suffer from low fertility.
Why do death rates rise slightly in the declining stage?
Ageing people reach the end of their lives.
Define ‘epidemiological transition (ET)’.
Transition from high mortality from acute infectious diseases (especially those in
childhood) to low mortality with deaths in old age from chronic diseases.
What is the difference between epidemiological transition and demographic transition?
Epidemiological transition adds more detailed consideration to causes of mortality.
Define ‘ecobiologic determinants of mortality’.
The changing patterns of immunity, vectors (such as the black rat partially responsible for spreading the bubonic plague in Europe), and the movement of pathogenic organisms.
What are socioeconomic, political and cultural determinants?
Standards of living, health
habits and hygiene and nutrition. Those are included here, rather than under
medical determinants because their improvement in western countries was a by-product of social change rather than a result of medical design.
Define ‘medical and public health determinants’.
Specific preventive and therapeutic measures used to fight disease.
- they include improved public sanitation and immunisation