Population Decline Induced by Gonorrhoea and Tuberculosis Transmission: Micronesia During the Japanese Occupation, 1919–45

Cassels, Susan; Singer, Burton H. (December 2010). "Population Decline Induced by Gonorrhoea and Tuberculosis Transmission: Micronesia During the Japanese Occupation, 1919–45". 27 (4): 293–313. doi:10.1007/s12546-011-9057-2. ISSN 1443-2447.

Abstract: he document examines Micronesia during the Japanese occupation from 1919 to 1945, focusing on how gonorrhoea and tuberculosis affected life expectancy, net reproduction rate, and total population size amid migration-induced mixing and heterogeneous exposure. It notes the suitability of island settings for characterizing transmission because of geographical closure and describes complex social and political factors regulating contact between infectious and susceptible individuals. Data are drawn from 17 years of Annual Reports (1920–1937) submitted by the Japanese government to the League of Nations on the South Sea Islands, providing demographic, mortality, and morbidity information stratified by the six districts of Micronesia: Yap, Truk, Ponape, Jaluit, Saipan, and Palau. Figures include population trends for Japanese and native Micronesians by district across 1920 to 1940, with separate series for groups such as Saipan Native and Saipan Japanese, Ponape Native and Ponape Japanese, and Jaluit Native and Jaluit Japanese. Conditions affecting tuberculosis transmission on Yap are documented from Japanese reports, describing the faluw and family homes as having few doors, poor ventilation, limited light, sleeping on bare ground, and palm-frond roofs and coconut mats that remained damp after heavy rains. The main island of Yap in 1930 is highlighted with age-specific deaths due to tuberculosis of the lungs versus other causes and with age- and sex-specific gonorrhoea prevalence in the native population, both sourced to the South Seas Government reports. A microsimulation model is presented with parameter values and sources, including outputs showing the simulated proportion of childless women by age over a 40-year horizon and the net reproduction rate under four scenarios: no gonorrhoea or tuberculosis, gonorrhoea at reported levels with no tuberculosis, tuberculosis at reported levels with no gonorrhoea, and both infections at reported levels. The modeling framework is linked to ethnographic appraisal, and the conclusion section reports concurrence with previous studies on the role of gonorrhoea in the depopulation of Yap during the Japanese occupation while presenting quantitative estimates of the individual and combined impact of gonorrhoea and tuberculosis.

Extra details:

MAG: 2092564366
OpenAlex: W2092564366
QID: Q35029833