Abstract
An objective diagnosis of the health of a population, based on the nature and magnitude of health problems as well as their determinants, constitutes a basic phase in the planning, development and evaluation of health control programs. The solid foundation for such a diagnosis must be based on accurate knowledge about the mortality and morbidity in any nation. Nevertheless, the mortality rate alone is inadequate to serve as the sole index of a country's health status for the following reasons: 1. It deals only with fatal diseases, minimizing those that are not always lethal, and completely ignoring nonfatal illnesses. 2. It records only the immediate cause of death without considering other circumstances related to the reported cause that also may have contributed to the outcome.
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