Abstract

PIP: The 4 Expert Groups convened in the 1st half of 1983 to ensure that the issues to be considered by the International Conference on Population in 1984 are given the necessary scientific focus, thus providing the proper substantive basis for reassessing the recommendations contained in the World Population Plan of Action. The central task of the 4 expert group meetings was to examine critical, high priority issues--fertility and family; population distribution, migration, and development; population resources, environment, and development; and mortality and health policy--and to make recommendations for action by governments and international and nongovernmental agencies that would enhance the effectiveness and compliance with the World Population Plan of Action. The discussion of the expert group meeting focusing on fertility and family covered the following: fertility response to modernization; family structure and fertility; choice with respect to childbearing; reproductive and economic activity of women; and demographic goals and policies. The Expert Group took into account that the World Population Plan of Action recognizes the basic human right of individuals and couples to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and that the Plan also recommends that all countries should respect and ensure this right, regardless of their demographic goals. Recommendations fell into the following major subject areas: population policy; family planning; the conditions of women; adolescent fertility; information, communication, and education; management and training; international cooperation; and research. The discussion of the Expert Group dealing with population distribution, migration, and development dealt with the following topics: conceptural approaches to internal and international migration; migration and rural development; migration, urbanization, and development in developing and developed countries; population distribution policies; and international migration. The experts identified the need for a more balanced approach to urbanization and migration than was evident in the World Population Plan of Action. To provide a framework for its discussion, 4 experts from the Group on Population, Resources, Environment, and Development prepared papers on the main items of the agenda. Each issue dealt with a selected example of a key problem area. The primary goal was to achieve a more exact identification of the role of population within the interrelationships. Discussion of the Expert Group on Mortality and Health Policy focused on the progress and prospects for mortality reduction; interactions between health, mortality, and development; health policies and their effects on mortality; and implementation of health policies. The Group agreed that central to the realization of good health and long life was the adoption and implementation of health policies and the promotion of health conditions.