The purpose of the Healthy Start Initiative, a national demonstration program, is to reduce infant mortality by 50 percent in 15 communities. At the heart of the initiative is the belief that the community, guided by a consortium of individuals and organizations from many sectors, can best design and implement the services needed by the women and…

This text is designed to accompany a series of slides that present information on Missouri's attempts to reduce minority infant mortality. In Missouri, the rate of black infant mortality is twice that for whites, and blacks are twice as likely as whites to be born with low birthweight. Only 64.9 percent of black women receive prenatal care in the…

Breakthroughs in science and social organization could soon be helping to save the lives of half the 40,000 young children who now die every day. They could also prevent several million children a year from becoming mentally or physically disabled. To achieve these goals, local successes showing that a child health revolution is possible must be…

This document presents witness testimonies and prepared statements from the Congressional hearing called to examine the severe health problems of infants whose mothers abused drugs, alcohol, or tobacco during their pregnancies, or who suffer from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Opening statements are included from Congressmen George…

Testimony concerned: (1) difficulties and successes in obtaining private and public medical services experienced by Illinois citizens with health problems during pregancy; (2) Illinois' efforts to deal with high infant mortality, including descriptions of intervention programs, excerpts from the data report of Illinois' 1988 Human Services Plan,…

This report summarizes a more in-depth report concerning the status of children's health in the United States, and strategies which involve primarily personal health care services for the prevention of death, disease, and injury of children. The report is divided into five major sections. The first discusses the effects of low birthweight on…

Reported in this bulletin are major results from an ongoing study conducted by the World Fertility Survey (WFS) to examine fertility levels and trends and contraceptive use in developing and developed countries. Major results were available by early 1982 from 29 developing countries and 16 developed countries. These results indicated that while…

The nine brief articles composing this report focus on several aspects of overpopulation and related problems. The first article discusses needs of third-world children in the last quarter of the twentieth century. The second discusses the importance of "childspacing," major health risks of excessive births, breastfeeding for birth…

The second in a series investigating child and maternal health care in the United States, this hearing explores the social impact of the 1981 spending cuts in funds for the federal maternal and child health block grant program. Statements from three senators describe the legislative history and successes of the program and detail the senators'…

Demographic data are used in this report to present information about infant mortality in more- and less-developed countries. One chapter is devoted to rising infant mortality rates in developed countries, which defy the typical post-World War II pattern. Severe economic conditions are linked to this increase. Direct causes of infant deaths are…

The purpose of this book is to provide a uniform and current (1977) data base for persons involved in planning and administering human services programs in South Carolina. General statewide demographic data are given first in a brief introduction. Then, each of the state's counties is profiled in terms of general demographic characteristics,…

Although in recent years the Indian Health Service has made significant strides in upgrading the deficiencies in the health care of American Indians, the Indian people still lag far behind the rest of the Nation in health status. The 1975 Indian Health Service budget proposal is designed to improve and expand the availability of health services to…

Concerned with historical patterns and with comparisons from one area to another, this report traced the growth of the Navajo and Hopi populations over the past 100 years (1870-1970). Data on fertility, mortality, and migration were obtained from the: Indian Health Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Public Health Service Office of Vital…

Presents data describing the fragmentation of the family, suggests causes for the fragmentation, and offers suggestions for reversing the trend. The suggestions focus on day care, part-time employment practices, enhancing the position of women, and work and responsibility. (IRT)

Black children as a whole had higher rates of homicide deaths than White children, but the difference fades when socioeconomic status is taken into consideration, especially for older children. For children under 5 the leading cause of death was battering; for those over 5 the leading cause was firearms. (Author/BJV)