ABSTRACT
To sum up, a policy, whether in the field of economics or health, demography or medicine, presupposes an adequate knowledge of facts relevant to the subject. In the realm of public health and preventive and social medicine, it is not easy to obtain facts. They are not obvious to the naked eye and the necessary statistics can only be obtained through a complex, expensive and official organization where the reporting and recording are obligatory. And a government cannot embark on a policy of lowering the death rate of a community in an effective manner unless they have reliable knowledge of the causes that are responsible for the high death rate.
