Putting Figures

To Work For The

South Pacific

By Cedric E. Gardiner

In the field of economics, the financier does not merely collect money from various sources and horde it. This is the province of the miser.

NOR does he spend it indiscrimin ately simply for the sake of spending—t hat causes inflation.

Rather does he put his money to work by investing it in capital works, for the good of industry and the welfare of his country.

Similarly with statistics. The prudent statistician must always be on his guard against the temptation to be come a statistical miser and collect statistics for the sake of collection, or because they are interesting or may be useful. Like the financier, he must put his money, his statistics, to work.

In the archives of the world there are countless volumes of statistical material. In many of the highly de veloped countries, statistically speak ing, much of this material is of academic or historical interest only.

On the other hand, there is a vast wealth of information in the form of statistical analyses available for the public health workers to guide them in the formulation of their pro grammes and policies.

Some of this material is suitable only for the country which produced the figures. A large quantity, how ever, is applicable to any country, developed or otherwise, where similar problems exist.

The important point I am making

is that these figures should be put to work—invested in health programmes and planning, for they will yield immeasurable results if properly applied.

Let us look at just a few examples where figures have been made to work for the good of mankind.

In New Zealand, for instance, statistics of admissions to public hospitals have been collected for many years. The New Zealand hospital statistics relating to accidents are very revealing, and have provided the incentive for various organisations associated with accident prevention campaigns to introduce safety measures where they are most needed.

Without the statistics to guide them as to where and when the

greatest hazards occur, many of the actions taken in this respect might never have been taken, or not until many more such accidents had occurred.

Qtartlmn Earfc Jiammg TdCTS A survey of the hospital statistics of New Zealand taken some years ago in relation to domestic accident cases revealed some startling facts, For instance, there were more domestic accident patients than motor-traffic accident patients. The stay in hospital was nearly twice as great. The average stay of domestic accident cases in hospital was 19.7 days, The publicity given to the terrible

toll of the road had tended to obscure these important facts.

These figures of how, when, and where domestic accidents occur prompted many a manufacturer to invent safety devices for his house hold goods which have since become standard equipment.

It has been observed over the years that the indigenous populations of many developing countries did not appear to suffer from certain de generative diseases to the same extent as the populations of older and more developed countries. On the other hand, such populations appear to be less resistant to infectious diseases.

Statistical studies which took into account the age-constitution of the different populations and used the device of age-adjustment of the figures revealed that in some respects these observations contained a fallacy.

This was largely due to the fact that infant and early childhood mortality was abnormally high in the indigenous populations, which resulted in a disproportionate number of sur vivals to enter the age-groups where degenerative diseases take their toll.

Adjustments made to the available statistics to allow for age disparity soon revealed that these populations are in fact just as, if not more, susceptible to degenerative diseases as are the older, mainly European, populations.

The flood of statistics that has swept over the world concerning the association of cigarette smoking and cancer of the lung, if not devastating

in its results, has at least revealed the inherent dangers and also instigated investigations into certain aspects of air pollution and associated hazards.

While the statistical procedures of the South Pacific have not yet reached the standard of the more developed countries, there is an abundance of valuable material available for scientific statistical analysis. Also a great deal of good work is already being done in this respect.

In Fiji, advantage is being taken of the inauguration of a mass campaign against tuberculosis to produce incidental statistics which should

yield valuable information in relation to the disease. The Department of Medical Services already publishes statistics relating to a variety of health problems which can be re garded as reliable and indicative of the problems to be solved, In Tahiti, statistical research into the incidence of spinal eosinophilic, a comparatively new manifestation of a disease affecting the nervous system, is of a very high order in deed, and should make a valuable contribution to the world knowledge of this disease.

Papua-New Guinea has developed hospital and cause-of-death statistics,

covering a limited section of the population, to a standard compar able with more developed countries.

Western Samoa has recently had the services of experts from the UN to help develop its health statistical services.

In almost every island territory in the South Pacific there are to be found bright spots in the statistical picture.

These are but a few examples of figures at work. But if they are to do the task of which they are capable, the urgent need is for not only more health statistics, but for greatly im proved accuracy and dependability of the figures that are available.

Statistics can be only as accurate as the original data from which they are compiled.

My travels in the South Pacific have revealed that before the avail able statistics can really be put to work, three important conditions need to be fulfilled. • Greater accuracy in the source documents from which the statistics are compiled. • Improvement in the classifica tion of such documents for statistical purposes. • Increased ability in the com pilation and interpretation of statistical material.

There are capable people every where in the territories of the South Pacific, and there is abundant evid ence of the desire of the various health authorities to obtain and utilise to a greater extent statistics that are reliable and informative.