I don’t think you have to been a total utilitarian to believe in “saving lives”. That is because an increase in population is not the main benefit of saving lives, and indeed many interventions that we think of as “saving lives” may have no or even a negative impact on total population.
Population dynamics are complicated and not that well understood, but one thing we know is that reduced infant and child mortality has a negative effect on birth rates. Intuitively you could think of this is a de-risking effect; if a parent wants to ensure that at least one or two kids make it to adulthood, then many more births are required under a high mortality environment.
I don’t think you have to been a total utilitarian to believe in “saving lives”. That is because an increase in population is not the main benefit of saving lives, and indeed many interventions that we think of as “saving lives” may have no or even a negative impact on total population.
Population dynamics are complicated and not that well understood, but one thing we know is that reduced infant and child mortality has a negative effect on birth rates. Intuitively you could think of this is a de-risking effect; if a parent wants to ensure that at least one or two kids make it to adulthood, then many more births are required under a high mortality environment.