Report of the fifteenth anniversary conference : review and evaluation of past activities of the Committee with suggestions for future study in demographic, health, and medical-economic statistics.

  • United States. National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics.
Date:
1966
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the fifteenth anniversary conference : review and evaluation of past activities of the Committee with suggestions for future study in demographic, health, and medical-economic statistics. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/36 (page 2)
    BACKGROUND DR. HALBERT L. DUNN Dr. Dunn reminded the group that the Inter- national Conference for the Fifth Decennial Re- vision of the International List of Causes of Death recommended in 1938 that the United States continue its studies of the statistical treatment of joint causes of death, The resulting United States Committee on Joint Causes of Death included among its members and consultants experts from the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Health Section of the League of Nations. This Committee ''realized that the big job was to ...produce an international list of causes of illness which was in some way linked directly with the causes of death, The Sixth Decennial Revision Conference held in 1948 substantially accepted the Committee's proposal and gave the world the Manual of the International Statistical Classification of Dis- eases, Injuries, and Causes of Death. The U.S. Committee on Joint Causes of Death had succeeded, Dr. Dunn observed, through a broad interpretation of its mandate and because it had included in its deliberations a wide repre- sentation of experts interested in establishing a morbidity classification. The effort had been so successful that, Dr. Dunn remembered, it was felt that a similar mechanism was needed to tackle future problems. The proposal for the establishment of national committees on vital and health statistics or its equivalent, a subject of heated discussion, was finally adopted. As Dr. Dunn put the matter once: If this were to be done, the conference would have to request nations to undertake such actions, since international protocol would be necessary for nations to work on international technical problems.! The strength of national committees on vital and health statistics, Dr. Dunn concluded, is in granting complete freedom ...to technical peo- 1Dunn, H. L.: Objectives underlying future patterns of work of national committees on vital and health statistics. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. Vol. 11, No. 1-2, Geneva, Switzerland. World Health Organization, 1954. p.159. ple.'' That freedom, of course, is confined to making recommendations concerning technical matters, REVIEW, EVALUATION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS The substantive activities of the Committee were considered by the Conference under the following headings: A. Demographic statistics B. Health statistics C. Health resource and service statistics A moderator introduced each of these topics; and separate presentations were made by two discussants, after which the topic was thrown open for general consideration. Each topic, preceded by a short introduction based on the remarks of the moderator, will be treated here in terms of the two presentations and the ensuing discussion. In a few places the discussion has been added directly to the eliciting presentation. A. Demographic Statistics Moderator: Dr. Elbridge Sibley Discussants: Dr. Conrad Taeuber Dr. Dudley Kirk Prior to 1946, Dr. Sibley observed, the numer- ators and denominators of vital rates were located in the same organization—the Bureau of the Census. Since then the numerators have been located in the Public Health Service. PRESENTATION BY DR. TAEUBER Dr. Taeuber emphasized two aspects of the country's demographic statistics: they are a byproduct of administrative statistics, and their improvement sometimes has depended on statis- tics that are produced by a unique Federal-State relationship involving the cooperation of many units with varying interests and resources. On occasion the Committee has recognized that some demographic needs can best be met by private agencies. Accuracy and completeness in the registration of vital events have been an early and continuing concern of the Committee, which has strongly