Articles: health.
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Since independence in 1971, a large number of health programs run by local and foreign voluntary organizations have been started in Bangladesh. This paper is the result of a survey undertaken on behalf on the Oxford Famine Relief Committee of ten of the most interesting of these projects. ⋯ A basic premise of this analysis is that ill health in particular communities is not simply a result of local conditions; rather, the structural determinants of ill health are frequently national and even international in scope. The effect of these structural determinants of the presence and funding policies of the many voluntary agencies in Bangladesh is assessed by analyzing the performance of the Oxford Famine Relief Committee, one of the more enlightened of these agencies.
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Weight, height, and arm circumference were measured in 7304 children 1 to 5 years old in Columbia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, India, and Pakistan. Previously developed indices using these measures were applied to assess nutritional status, and the agreement between measures was compared. Weight for age and height for age deficits increased with age while weight for height deficits diminished. ⋯ Good agreement in malnutrition diagnoses was found between a weight for height limit of 90% of standard and a weight for age limit of 75% of standard. A cut-off point of 80% of standard weight for height was too low to detect most malnourished children. An age-constant arm circumference limit of 13.5 cm identified nearly all children with severe or acute malnutrition by weight for age or weight for height.
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A comparison of health status between 779 Seventh-day Adventists, who have a strong commitment to heal-related life styles, and two other groups of people--8363 persons referred by general practitioners and 9825 volunteers--was made. The Seventh-day Adventists showed less impairment of systolic and diastolic blood pressures, of plasma cholesterol and plasma urate concentrations, and of lung ventilatory capacity; and less obesity at most specific ages. ⋯ Depression, sleeplessness, use of sedatives and tranquillizers were lower in the Seventh-day Adventists; although, once again, a drawing together of the three groups in older age categories was evident. It is concluded that the life style of Seventh-day Adventists is conducive to lessened morbidity, delayed mortality, and decreased call on health services in comparison with the general population.