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The study was aimed at identifying Latin-American countries' public policy which has been related to the social determinants of health. A topic review was thus made of papers kept in the 22 Latin-American countries' databases and official documents issued by their multilateral organisations and ministries of health. The World Health Organization's concept of the social determinants of health has been summarised and a history given of the pertinent work developed worldwide in regions such as Europe and Latin-America. Public policy regarding the field of study in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, México and Venezuela has been described. It was concluded that Latin-America provides a panorama of inequality regarding the application of policy concerning the social determinants of health and that there was segmented intervention, mainly regarding intermediate determinants of health, without taking an integrated approach from different entrance points into account, according to the stated conceptual framework.

"The purposes of this paper are to analyze the Argentine legislation between 1870 and 1989 that has directly or indirectly affected the dynamics and structure of population, as well as to reveal the ideology of population policies supported by hegemonic social forces. This analysis takes into consideration the different development strategies that have been implemented. Our study explores the way in which the different governments have approached the issue of population, and, more specifically, it analyzes the relation between public policies, population policies, development strategies, and political processes represented in State laws." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"The purpose of this paper is to assess urban research in Mexico during the 1980s.... The study is divided into three sections: 1) continuing themes; 2) new themes on urban issues; [and] 3) state policies regarding urban issues. The author notes that in the 1980s, research was conducted for the purpose of analyzing urban realities more explicitly.... She also offers a description of studies that attempt to link state policies, the actors involved, and their impact (or lack of it) on urbanization processes, and discusses the regulatory functions carried out by the state." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

Using data for Latin America, "this paper analyses the [potential] of using social policies in connection with policies to affect demographic behaviour.... It shows that there is a coincidence between the interests of the countries, as expressed by the national governments, and the demographic wishes of couples.... It shows that to a certain extent, it is possible to...[implement] social and population policies that are relatively independent from the economic situation. The document also discusses the role of social scientists...[and central and local governments] in the elaboration and execution of policies in general, and socio-demographic polices in particular...." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

Both high rates of labor force growth and large dependency ratios are forecast in this paper for the countries of Latin America in the 1990s. The author concludes that "population and employment problems must be given high priority in bilateral negotiations and/or with international organizations when deciding upon structural adjustment strategies." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

Changes in the relationship between population factors and the development process in Mexico from 1940 to the present are reviewed. The authors show how the development that occurred up to about 1970 both absorbed and encouraged rapid population growth. They then describe how the emergence of problems concerning this relationship led to the development of a population policy during the 1970s. "The paper then takes up the implementation of that policy and the determinants of the fertility decline that took place afterwards, and closes with a brief review of the implications that demographic considerations have for Mexico's future." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"The paper refers to the amount and some characteristics of the Spanish, Italian and Portuguese immigration to Chile during the period 1860-1930. It is compared with [movements to] Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Uruguay.... Different information sources are used and in spite of data weakness, the low preference for Chile of the European migratory flows is ratified as compared with those to Argentina.... It is pointed out that the migratory flows to Latin America, in particular to Chile, are associated, on the one hand, with the favourable... European [immigration] policy in this country and on the other hand with the huge European emigration overseas during that period." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

This paper analyzes the changes in Argentine laws regarding migration, mainly in the hundred years since the Argentine Constitution was passed until the 1950s. The different subsequent laws and the debates they caused are related by the author to the political and ideological trends dominating Argentina in that period as to the characteristics and oscillations of the migratory afflux. Further the paper considers Italian laws and migration policies during the same period. The author concludes that after a liberal migration policy in the 19th century, growing legal restrictions and passionate discussion on the role of immigrants followed in this century, particularly between the 2 World Wars.

The relationship between population distribution and development trends is analyzed, with attention to the planning of spatial redistribution policies. Some shortcomings in the investigation of the causes and consequences of urbanization are discussed. The second part of the article "refers to some spatial demographic and socio-economic expressions of the urbanization process in Latin America, the population concentration trends and their relationships with changes in agrarian structure and industrialization, social stratification patterns and forms of urban space organization.... The paper concludes with some critical notes on the theses related to 'optimum' size of urban centres and to 'balanced development' of urban systems, on which some policy proposals have been based." (summary in ENG), (excerpt)