Some observations on the communicable diseases as public health problems

Notwithstanding the deficiencies in reporting, an attempt is made in the present study to provide some useful information on the importance of the communicable diseases in the world over the decade 1957-58 to 1967-68. In this period health authorities in the developing countries almost invariably reported communicable diseases as their main public health problems, whereas, in the developed countries, the only communicable diseases still considered as public health problems were tuberculosis, venereal diseases, and hepatitis. In the developing countries nearly half of the principal causes of death were communicable diseases, and in both the developing and developed countries respiratory infections ranked high on the list. Deaths from tuberculosis have come down markedly in the developed countries and to a lesser degree in the developing countries. Infectious diseases of childhood are no longer a problem in the developed countries but are still important in the developing countries. The communicable diseases of importance to the developing countries may be divided into two groups-those requiring long-term development for their solution (e.g., dysentery, typhoid fever, parasitic diseases, and respiratory infections) and those that would respond rapidly to control by such methods as immunization.