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reproductive health > glossary
GlossaryAbortion Rate: The number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44 or 15-49 in a given year.
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Age-Dependency Ratio: The ratio of persons in the ages defined as dependent (under 15 years and over 64 years) to persons in the ages defined as economically productive (15-64 years) in a population.
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Ageing of Population: A process in which the proportions of adults and elderly increase in a population, while the proportions of children and adolescents decrease. This process results in a rise in the median age of the population. Ageing occurs when fertility rates decline while life expectancy remains constant or improves at the older ages.
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AIDS: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome - a fatal disease caused by a virus (HIV) which destroys the immune system's ability to fight off infection.
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Birth Rate (or crude birth rate): The number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year. Not to be confused with population growth rate.
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Carrying Capacity: The maximum sustainable size of a resident population in a given ecosystem.
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Child mortality rate: The number of deaths among children under 5 years old per 1,000 children in the same age group.
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Contraceptive Prevalence Rate: Percentage of couples currently using a contraceptive method.
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Dependency Ratio: The ratio of the economically dependent part of the population to the productive part; arbitrarily defined as the ratio of the elderly (ages 65 and older) plus the young (under age 15) to the population in the working ages (ages 15-64).
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Development: A process of economic and social transformation that defies simple definition. Though often viewed as a strictly economic process involving growth and diversification of a country's economy, development is a qualitative concept that entails complex social, cultural, and environmental changes. There are many models of what 'development' should look like and many different standards of what constitutes 'success'.
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Female genital mutilation (FGM): Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the term used to refer to the removal of part, or all, of the female genitalia. The most severe form is infibulation, also known as pharaonic circumcision. An estimated 15% of all mutilations in Africa are infibulations. The procedure consists of clitoridectomy (where all, or part of, the clitoris is removed), excision (removal of all, or part of, the labia minora), and cutting of the labia majora to create raw surfaces, which are then stitched or held together in order to form a cover over the vagina when they heal. A small hole is left to allow urine and menstrual blood to escape. In some less conventional forms of infibulation, less tissue is removed and a larger opening is left. The vast majority (85%) of genital mutilations performed in Africa consist of clitoridectomy or excision. The least radical procedure consists of the removal of the clitoral hood. In some traditions a ceremony is held, but no mutilation of the genitals occurs.
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Fertility: The actual reproductive performance of an individual, a couple, a group, or a population.
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High-risk pregnancies: Pregnancies occurring under the following conditions: too closely spaces, too frequent, mother too young or too old, or accompanied by such high-risk factors as high blood pressure or diabetes.
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HIV: Human immunodeficiency virus � the cause of AIDS.
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Infant Mortality Rate: The number of deaths of infants under age 1 per 1,000 live births in a given year.
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Maternal Mortality Rate: The number of women who die as a result of pregnancy and childbirth complications per 100,000 live births in a given year.
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Morbidity: Rate of occurrence of disease or other health disorder within a population, taking account of the age specific morbidity rates. Health outcomes include: chronic disease incidence/prevalence, rates of hospitalisation, primary care consultations, disability-days (e.g. days when absent from work), and prevalence of symptoms.
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Population Growth Rate: The number of persons added to (or subtracted from) a population in a year due to natural increase and net migration expressed as a percentage of the population at the beginning of the time period.
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Population health: A measure of health status of populations, proposed in recent years to selectively replace use of the terms human health, which is more restrictive, and public health, which also encompasses preventive and curative measures and infrastructures.
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Population Momentum: The tendency for population growth to continue beyond the time that replacement-level fertility has been achieved because of the relatively high concentration of people in the childbearing years.
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Population Projection: Computation of future changes in population numbers, given certain assumptions about future trends in the rates of fertility, mortality, and migration. Demographers often issue low, medium, and high projections of the same population, based on different assumptions of how these rates will change in the future.
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Primary Health Care: Essential health care which at the very least should include: education of the community regarding prevalent health problems and means of alleviating or preventing these; the promotion of adequate supplies of food and proper nutrition; basic sanitation and adequate safe water; maternal and child health care including family planning; the prevention and control of locally-endemic diseases; immunisation against the main infectious diseases; appropriate treatment of common diseases and injuries; and the provision of essential drugs.
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Rate of Natural Increase (or Decrease): The rate at which a population is increasing (or decreasing) in a given year due to a surplus (or deficit) of births over deaths, expressed as a percentage of the base population.
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Replacement-Level Fertility: The level of fertility at which a couple has only enough children to replace themselves, or about two children per couple.
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Reproductive Health: Reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes.
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Sex Ratio: The number of males per 100 females in a population.
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Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs): Any infection transmitted by sexual intercourse. The most common STIs are gonorrhoea, chlamydia, herpes and AIDS.
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Sustainable development: Sustainable development has as many definitions as subscribers. In essence, it refers to economic development that meets the needs of all without leaving future generations with fewer natural resources than those we enjoy today. It is widely accepted that achieving sustainable development requires balance between three dimensions of complementary change:
- Economic (towards sustainable patterns of production and consumption)
- Ecological (towards maintenance and restoration of healthy ecosystems)
- Social (towards poverty eradication and sustainable livelihoods)
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Total Fertility Rate (TFR): The average number of children that would be born alive to a woman (or group of women) during her lifetime if she were to pass through her childbearing years conforming to the age-specific fertility rates of a given year. This rate is sometimes stated as the number of children women are having today.
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WHO (World Health Organisation): A UN agency created in 1948 to deal with global health issues and to achieve as high a level of physical, mental and social well-being as possible for peoples of the world. It is involved in a variety of environemental studies, including the impact of climate change and ozone depletion on health, in conjunction with other agencies such as the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program(UNEP).
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World Commission on Environment and Development: Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1983 to examine international and global environmental problems and to propose strategies for sustainable development. Chaired by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, the independent commission held meetings and public hearing around the world and submitted a report on its inquiry to the General Assembly in 1987.
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World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD): The World Summit on Sustainable Development takes place from 26 August - 4 September 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Governments, UN agencies, and civil society organisations will come together to assess progress since the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio in 1992 (hence the title 'Rio + 10' for the Johannesburg meeting). Sustainable development is defined in the report from the Rio meeting as being 'economic progress which meets all of our needs without leaving future generations with fewer resources than those we enjoy'.
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