Survival rates vs mortalilty rates

In Survival Rates Versus Mortality Rates Aaron Carroll explains the difference between survival rates and mortality rates and why the difference is important.

But here’s the thing.  You can only decrease the mortality rate by preventing death, or preventing the disease.  That’s really it.  That’s a cure or a life extension. Survival rate, however, can be increased by preventing death, preventing disease, or making the diagnosis earlier.

He then uses cancer to highlight the difference and explain why mortality rate is a more useful statistic than survival rate. Basically, you can increase the survival rate by diagnosing an illness earlier. However, if the mortality rate doesn't change then you haven't actually improved public health.
Can survival rate be a useful statistic? Yes, if you are comparing treatments then, all other things being equal, survival rate can indicate which is the more effective treatment. However, mortality rate is the better statistic when looking at public health outcomes. Why is this? It's because measures such as earlier diagnosis can appear to increase survival rates even if they make no difference to a patient's outcome.