Junior-headed households as a possible strategy for coping with the growing orphan crisis in northern Namibia.

This paper reports research concerning junior-headed households among Oshiwambo speakers in north-central Namibia. Based on field interviews with randomly sampled junior heads of households and selected key informants, we outline some features common to the junior-headed households and the ways in which they attempt to manage their lives. The concepts of child- and junior-headed households are also clarified.

Occupational exposures and inpatient hospital care for lumbar intervertebral disc disorders among Finns.

Background: Low back disorders are among the most common health problems in industrialized societies. We examined the relationship between occupational exposures and severe lumbar intervertebral disc disorders (LIDD).

Methods: Information on inpatient care for LIDD (ICD-10: M51.

Impact on mortality of the AIDS epidemic in northern Namibia assessed using parish registers.

Objectives: HIV spread rapidly in Namibia in the 1990s. As in most of Africa, however, few data exist to document the impact on mortality of AIDS. Such data can contribute to knowledge of the epidemiology of HIV infection and inform the development of programmes to mitigate the impact of the AIDS epidemic.

Work injuries among Finnish farmers: a national register linkage study 1996-1997.

Background: Farming is one of the most injury-prone occupations in Finland as it is in other countries. Our goals were to describe work injuries of Finnish farmers and to compare occupational injury rates between various subgroups.

Methods: A national cohort of 69,629 full-time farmers and their 11,657 compensated injuries were identified from an insurance company database.

Inpatient hospital care for back disorders in relation to industry and occupation in Finland.

Objectives: The variation in hospital admission rates was studied for back disorders by industry and occupational title among gainfully employed Finns.

Methods: Admissions to Finnish hospitals in 1996 among 25- to 64-year-olds, based on the Hospital Discharge Register, were linked with sociodemographic data from the 1995 population census for the following primary diagnoses [International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10)]: all back disorders (M40.0-54.

Socioeconomic inequalities in cardiovascular mortality and the role of work: a register study of Finnish men.

Background: In Finland, socioeconomic inequalities in mortality have been well documented. However, the role of working conditions in the emergence of those inequalities has not been thoroughly examined.

Methods: Data came from the Longitudinal Census file, which included censuses since 1970 (every 5 years).