Prenatal care, though providing invaluable health education, including parenting instruction and contraceptive advice as well as medical supervision, is seriously limited for poor women. Suggests ways of surpassing barriers of ignorance, fear, lack of child care and transportation, and lack of skilled medical translators, and calls for more…

Adolescent pregnancy results from a combination of factors, including feelings of hopelessness, poor education, and the effects of racism. Its personal, social, and public costs must be understood and addressed. Reiterates findings that pregnancy prevention programs should be sensitive to the target group culture, include other family members, and…

Addresses the causes for and implications of infant mortality. Besides the more immediate causes such as disease, nutrition, and lifestyle, there are the additional hurdles of government bureaucracy, lack of funds, and institutional attitudes that block access to prenatal care. Suggests structural solutions, including a consistent, individual,…

A clinical progress report is presented concerning how the infants and children of Harlem (New York City) have endured the past six years. Crack abuse, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, social disorganization, and violence have been added to the traditional concomitants of poverty. Proposals are made for improvement. (SLD)

Describes an underserved rural community in which health care initiatives increased access to comprehensive care. Over a 3-year period, increased accessibility to maternal and child health care also increased use of preventive services, thus decreasing emergency room visits and hospitalizations as well as low birth weight, risk of congenital…