Maternal Mortality and the Gains of the Developmental State in Southeast Asia


If only for the spectacle of “effect sizes” of public health policies, there could not be a more appropriate statistic than deaths to mothers per 100,000 live births. This indicator implicates sanitation, hygiene, medical skills and technology, which are all functions of the developmental state. It not only indexes public economic resources, but also to where these resources are put to use. A full length essay on this aspect of the developmental process will have to wait. Meanwhile, I can vouch for the spectacle of Vietnam, recovering from its gruesome war wounds, an erstwhile socialist economy, embarrassing the blatantly capitalist Philippines, also among the oldest “democracies” of Asia.

Singapore the winner in the developmental race, is clearly kindest to its mothers, and Malaysia and Thailand are front runners. These three are worthwhile models of public health and reproductive policies, but what about the rest?

the year is 2008, and the data are provided by UNESCAP, 2012.

 
singapore 8
brunei 21
malaysia 31
thailand 48
vietnam 56
phils 91
myanmar 240
indonesia 240
cambodia 290
Timor-leste 370
lao pdr 580

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Population Growth and SocioEconomic Development

Labor has ever been central to issues of production. Indeed, Marxists assert that it is the primary factor of production. Labor comes from the demographic stock, population. Recently, social scientists have again resurrected the specter of continued, if not worsening, prospects of poverty in the Philippines, in spite of projected growth of the economy. Their contention is that demographic growth will serve as stumbling block to Philippine development. Students of Economic Planning, let me hear your views on the matter. Students of Sociology of Socio-Political Change, likewise. Please consider this as a sort of written examination. Your posts should reflect your theoretical position, as well as your empirical observations. Citations are most welcome. Due date for your posting is 5 p.m. on September 20, 2008.
Read more

The Religion of IT

The assigned module for discussion is “The Religion of Computers” by David S. Bricklin, found at http://www.atariarchives.org/deli/the_religion_of_computers.php Your task(s) are (1) to reduce to some 3 sentences paragraph the essence of Bricklin’s argument, and then (2) to write a critique, where you state whether you agree or disagree with his basic arguments. Although Bricklin writes about computer technology, you may extend his argument to mobile communications technology, such as the proliferation of cell phone models, and so on. In Youtube, see the clip "Colossus (the prequel to the Terminator?) It can add visual dimension to this learning module
Read more

Soft Power

Students of Political Dynamics of China and Taiwan are required to critique Joseph S. Nye's "the Rise of China's Soft Power", found at http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/1499/rise_of_chinas_soft_power.html. Due date is July 21, 2009
Read more