A major Egyptian national programme for the control of diarrhoeal disease was launched in February 1984, with the aim of reducing the dehydration-specific mortality resulting from acute diarrhoea (52% of all infant deaths in 1979) and thus to reduce overall infant and childhood mortality.

This analysis examines the relationship between length of preceding birth interval and risk of intrauterine growth retardation using data on Swedish infants from the 1973 World Health Organization study of perinatal mortality. Results of a multivariate logit analysis demonstrate that the lower than average mean birth weight of infants born after short birth intervals cannot be completely attributed to their shorter mean gestation length. Infants born after birth intervals of 12 months or less are 30% more likely to be small for gestational age (SGA) than infants born 18–59 months after the previous birth, even when the effects of maternal age and parity are controlled. The results obtained here do not support maternal depletion as an explanation for the association between short birth intervals and elevated risk of SGA, since there is no evidence of an attenuation of the risk of SGA with increasing length of interval in the under 18 month birth interval range.

A life table analysis is made of the duration of breast-feeding and postpartum amenorrhoea in Orissa, India, taking one variable at a time using data from a baseline survey of fertility and mortality (BSFM) conducted on the lines of the World Fertility Survey. Then a multivariate (proportional hazard) analysis showed that socioeconomic factors including residence, caste status and education influence the breast-feeding and post-partum amenorrhoea periods. There was no effect of maternal age on the length of breast-feeding, but mean length of post-partum amenorrhoea varied with age. The durations of breast-feeding and post-partum amen orrhoea are strongly related.

As the participants in the 1958 National Child Development Study cohort enter adulthood most of the social factors associated with onset of asthma are no longer relevant, but many of the biological factors continue to be important. There is a continuing association at age 23 between eczema, hayfever and similar allergic reactions and continuing asthma, while the earlier associated social factors including non-manual occupations, home ownership, and lack of crowding within the home or sharing of the bedroom with others in the household cease to have significant effects. Smoking patterns in this age group diverge sharply from what might be expected in those with a serious respiratory affliction: significantly more asthmatics smoke than would be expected at random.

The physical, achievement, and personality characteristics of Chinese schoolchildren are evaluated. The results of two surveys of Chinese schoolchildren, conducted in Beijing and Jilin Province, are presented. In the Beijing sample, the differences between only children and others were small but statistically significant, with the only children having higher scores in achievement and physical size. In the Jilin Province sample, the differences between only children and others were also small but significant. These differences were found entirely in physical characteristics, with only children being smaller, perhaps because the only children in the Jilin sample were much younger than the non-only children. Analyses of the combined sample of Beijing and Jilin schoolchildren indicated that the only-child advantages in achievement were found among children from urban families, not rural peasant families. While significant differences in height and weight were found in all three samples, none of the results indicated a significant difference in the proportion of body fat. None of the analyses indicated that only children had undesirable personalities, as judged by teachers and mothers.

Various studies have enquired into the influence of socioeconomic development or public health measures on life expectancies in less developed countries. Analysis of the effect of these two groups of factors upon life expectancy, using data for 95 less developed countries, indicates that mortality is primarily influenced by such socioeconomic development measures as urbanization, industrialization, and education, and secondarily by such public health measures as access to safe water, physicians, and adequate nutrition.

The primary health care programme in Ghana has two objectives: (1) to achieve basic primary health care for 80% of the population of the country by 1990; (2) to attack the disease problems that contribute to 80% of the unnecessary deaths and disability afflicting Ghanaians, also by 1990.

Newborn infants are among those which generate the highest health care costs. For instance, the cost of hospital care until discharge was assessed at US $ 14,200 (Boyle et al., 1983) for babies weighing 1000–1499g at birth. The average hospital stay for a baby weighing less than 1500g at birth in 1981 was 100 days at an average daily cost of US$ 898 (Stahlman, 1984). Achievements in neonatal survival, especially of extremely low birth weight babies, have necessitated frequent revision of the definition of viability. However, modern neonatal intensive care cannot be regarded as appropriate for developing countries as it cannot be made accessible to all at an affordable cost.