The socioeconomic factors leading to the high level of infant mortality in the South, among teenage mothers, and among women living in poverty are discussed. The federal 1987 Budget Reconciliation Bill will expand Medicaid to cover poor pregnant women and young children. Expansion of such programs more than pays for itself. (PS)

Examines achievements in child health and welfare in the United States from 1964-74 and discusses deficiencies which exist in spite of increased research, governmental spending, and improved educational level of the population. Statistics on related topics such as infant mortality, family structure, preventive services, care of the chronically…

A brief history, beginning in the late 18th century, of increasing measures taken to insure children's health and eradicate many causes of children's deaths. Discussed also are many of the leading figures and institutions that played a key role in these developments. (MS)

This paper examines the relationship between female schooling and two behaviors--cumulative fertility and contraceptive use--in 14 Sub-Saharan African countries where Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) have been conducted since the mid-1980s. Using multivariate regression analysis, the paper compares the effect of schooling across countries, in…

This review of seven Healthy People objectives for the nation's 100 largest cities and their surrounding areas documents considerable but inconsistent progress toward improving health in urban and suburban areas. It describes achievements in reaching Healthy People 2000/2010 goals, which were created by the Office of the Surgeon General of the…

Examines the correlates of premature death, infant mortality rates, and associated costs for African Americans using census and other government data. There is unimpeachable evidence to confirm the inferior health and survival rates of African Americans at all age intervals. (SLD)

Presents a chart of socioeconomic data for 38 developing countries and the United States. Includes statistics on GNP per capita, percent of people living on less than one dollar a day, under-age-5 mortality rate, percent of population without access to safe water, and total adult-literacy rate. (DSK)

Interest in income inequality as a predictor of health has exploded since the mid-1990s. Recent analyses suggest, however, that the effect of income inequality on population health is not robust to a control for the racial composition of the population. That observation raises two interpretational questions. First, does income inequality have an…

Traditionally, mothers provide banana to their neonates as well as discharge their colostrum prior to breastfeeding, increasing the risk of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Health education modules, based on ethnographic study, to discourage these detrimental practices were developed for use by community leaders. Two thousand six hundred and…

In 1988, Franklin County Children Services in Columbus, Ohio, initiated the development of a community-based, multidisciplinary process to review all deaths of children on its open caseload, and deaths in cases in which the agency had contact with the child or the child's family in the 12 months preceding the child's death. The review process…

Healthy Start is a 5-year program that encourages community-based strategies for reducing infant mortality. This report addresses Congressional concerns of preliminary evaluation results reported by the press concerning the program's efficacy. The report strives to answer three Congressional concerns: (1) the plan for the national program…

The major objectives of this briefing are to inform non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of population problems and progress worldwide and to provide information on the International Conference on Population to be held in Mexico City in 1984. The bulk of the report summarizes the group meetings and followup discussions held to examine four major…

Designed for global education at the high school level, this document presents statistics on malnutrition, infant mortality, and illiteracy in developing nations. The statistics are compared with private and government expenditures of wealthy nations. Examples of the statistical information for developing nations are: more than 500 million people…

Less than 2 years after the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1981 mandated the reorganization of long-established maternal and child health services and substantially reduced funding of programs, a rise in the incidence of unfavorable maternal and child outcomes was detected in national health data. Data suggest at least an inferential…