RESUMO
In this paper the inherent characteristics of the demographic and epidemiological transitions are described. The main differences of the transitions between Western Europe of the 18th and 19th centuries and of the Latin American countries of the 20th century are pointed out. The demographic transition in Mexico is briefly described and the attributes that make it sui generis are indicated. It is emphasized that there has been a slowing of the rate of decline in fertility in Mexico since 1980 and some factors likely associated with this phenomenon are propounded. The different schools of thought regarding the changes of infant mortality during the transition are succinctly reviewed. The hypothesis that reductions of the birth rates induce reductions of infant mortality rates is supported by general theoretical results of the population dynamics of infectious diseases and some empirical evidences.
Assuntos
Epidemiologia/tendências , Crescimento Demográfico , Economia , Humanos , Lactente , Mortalidade Infantil/tendências , MéxicoRESUMO
The history of human disease has to be based almost entirely on what we know about the changes in mortality and life expectancy; illness and suffering do not lend themselves to hard statistics, whereas births and deaths can be counted. To learn about the way diseases have been conquered in the past we have, therefore, to look at mortality. From this study we see that the major lethal diseases were conquered not so much by discovering how to treat them as by prevention. The decline on mortality began at the start of the past century, at a time of revolution and reform, and was greatly accelerated when the causes of many diseases were discovered at the end of the nineteenth century. Even in the twentieth century, the greatest improvements are still being achieved by preventive measurements.