Demographic findings relevant for health care planning and evaluation collected through a malaria control project in the Kivu Mountains, Zaire

Autor: K. Molima, C. Delacollette-Lebrun, M. Wéry, C. Delacollette, P. Van der Stuyft
Rok vydání: 1992
Předmět:
Zdroj: Acta Tropica. 52:189-199
ISSN: 0001-706X
DOI: 10.1016/0001-706x(92)90035-v
Popis: Population studies were conducted in the margin of a community based malaria control programme in the Katana Health zone, in the Eastern part of Zaire. The reported findings are based on prospective registration of vital events from March 1986 through February 1987. At mid term 28.083 people were covered. The age and sex structure of the population was typical for tropical Africa, apart from an excess of males to females after the age of 64. The mean age at marriage was 21.2 years for women and 25.6 years for men. 89% of women did not complete a single year of formal education. The crude fertility rate was 250/1000 and total fertility 8.3 children. The infant mortality rate and the child mortality quotients attained 130/1000 and 183/1000 respectively. The crude death rate was 23 per 1000 and the natural population growth rate 31/1000. Due to a net out-migration of 28/1000 the zone's population remained, however, virtually stable. The latter observation questions the purported role of demographic pressure as a key determinant of the region's slow socio-economic development. The other findings provide valuable baseline and background information for planning and evaluating health-related activities.High population growth rates have been considered a major problem in the Kivu region of Zaire and a key issue for the future development of the rural areas situated near Kivu lake. Overpopulation and the resulting land shortage were held responsible for the disastrous nutritional situation and the population explosion was said to limit the impact of health care activities. A paucity of recent demographic data for the region, however, has made it difficult to assess whether these claims are valid. The authors report findings from population studies conducted in the margin of a community-based malaria control program in the Katana Health zone in the eastern part of Zaire. Findings are based upon the prospective registration of vital events from March 1986 through February 1987. 5497 households were counted and 28,083 people were covered at midterm. 19.9% of the population was younger than 5 years old, 47.3% under age 15, and 3.7% above age 64. Women aged 15-49 comprised 21.5% of the total population. The mean age at marriage was 21.2 years for women and 25.6 for men, with more than 40% of the elder men having more than one wife. 89% of the women had not completed one year of formal education. The crude fertility rate was 250% with total fertility at 8.3 children per woman. The rate of infant mortality was 130%, the child mortality quotient was 183%, the crude death rate was 23 per 1000, and the rate of natural population growth was 31%. The net out-migration rate of 28% toward less populated rural or urban areas, however, kept the zone's population size almost stable. Increasing demographic pressure can therefore probably not be held responsible for the region's economic stagnation. Dependence upon customary authorities, the land tenure system, and the quasi-feudal organization of agricultural production and crop commercialization seem to offer more plausible explanations.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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