Vibrant and Healthy Kids

Vibrant and Healthy Kids

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2019-12-27

Total Pages: 621

ISBN-13: 0309493382

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Children are the foundation of the United States, and supporting them is a key component of building a successful future. However, millions of children face health inequities that compromise their development, well-being, and long-term outcomes, despite substantial scientific evidence about how those adversities contribute to poor health. Advancements in neurobiological and socio-behavioral science show that critical biological systems develop in the prenatal through early childhood periods, and neurobiological development is extremely responsive to environmental influences during these stages. Consequently, social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors significantly affect a child's health ecosystem and ability to thrive throughout adulthood. Vibrant and Healthy Kids: Aligning Science, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity builds upon and updates research from Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity (2017) and From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development (2000). This report provides a brief overview of stressors that affect childhood development and health, a framework for applying current brain and development science to the real world, a roadmap for implementing tailored interventions, and recommendations about improving systems to better align with our understanding of the significant impact of health equity.


Maternal and Child Health

Maternal and Child Health

Author: John Ehiri

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2009-10-03

Total Pages: 584

ISBN-13: 0387892451

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Our current era of globalization, war, and socioeconomic unrest has revealed public health as a worldwide concern and a major frontier for social justice with maternal and child health at its epicenter. Yet, there has been a relative scarcity of training resources specifically dedicated to this crucial area. "Maternal and Child Health: Global Challenges, Programs, and Policies" addresses this gap in current knowledge by analyzing the range of socioeconomic and environmental factors, health care disparities, politics, policies, and cultural practices that impact the health and safety of mothers, as well as the well-being and optimum development of their children. Individual sections focus on unequal distribution of the world’s resources, politics and power, specific disease concerns, programs, policies and emerging concerns with a focus on what is currently being done, and what needs to be done to improve the health status of women, children, and adolescents. The book’s contributors are some of the world’s most respected experts, carefully selected to represent different global geographic regions and diverse professional disciplines related to maternal and child health from both academic and field practice perspectives. Among the topics in this authoritative volume: The impact of war, globalization, gender inequity, and harmful traditional practices (e.g., female genital mutilation). Specific health concerns, including tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, and malnutrition. Child and adolescent health issues, from abuse and neglect to children in difficult circumstances. Pregnancy-related issues: safety, abortion and post-abortion care, teen pregnancy, and more. Strategies for planning, developing, and maintaining maternal and child health systems in developing countries. The status of global initiatives, such as Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses and the Millennium Development Goals. The status of evidence-based maternal and child health in the developing world. With such a wealth of information on both practical and conceptual levels, "Maternal and Child Health: Global Challenges, Programs, and Policies" is as relevant to students and researchers in the field as it is to policy makers and those working for global health and development organizations. It also makes an excellent stand-alone text for courses in global health in general and global maternal and child health in particular.


Needs Assessment in Public Health

Needs Assessment in Public Health

Author: Donna J. Petersen

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-05-08

Total Pages: 142

ISBN-13: 030647610X

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This volume is for students and practitioners interested in improving their understanding and skills in the area of needs assessment. The text follows the typical sequence of an actual needs assessment process. Case studies are used to illustrate conceptualization of the task through the application of needs-based data to effective public health solutions. Examples are drawn from myriad public health efforts, recognizing that not all public health sector agencies bear direct responsibility for all activities that could be considered part of public health.


Primary Care and Public Health

Primary Care and Public Health

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2012-07-19

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 0309255201

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Ensuring that members of society are healthy and reaching their full potential requires the prevention of disease and injury; the promotion of health and well-being; the assurance of conditions in which people can be healthy; and the provision of timely, effective, and coordinated health care. Achieving substantial and lasting improvements in population health will require a concerted effort from all these entities, aligned with a common goal. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) examine the integration of primary care and public health. Primary Care and Public Health identifies the best examples of effective public health and primary care integration and the factors that promote and sustain these efforts, examines ways by which HRSA and CDC can use provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to promote the integration of primary care and public health, and discusses how HRSA-supported primary care systems and state and local public health departments can effectively integrate and coordinate to improve efforts directed at disease prevention. This report is essential for all health care centers and providers, state and local policy makers, educators, government agencies, and the public for learning how to integrate and improve population health.


The Healthy Start Initiative

The Healthy Start Initiative

Author: Meri McCoy-Thompson

Publisher:

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 122

ISBN-13:

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This volume describes the experiences of each of the 15 rural and urban Healthy Start initiatives. These projects were set up in areas that had infant mortality rates that were 1.5 to 2.5 times the national average. Project locations include major cities such as Chicago, Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; and Oakland, California, and rural areas in South Carolina and the Plains states. The projects brought together families and community organizations to design and implement new procedures in an intensive effort to reduce the infant mortality rate in their communities by one-half within 5 years. In this report, representatives from each of the projects share the lessons they learned in planning and implementing the Healthy Start initiative to reduce infant mortality. While some speakers discuss unique aspects of their programs, many stress common themes. Recurrent themes in the reports include community involvement, consortia development, management and governance, program initiatives, provider issues, and sustainability. These themes are outlined in the executive summary at the beginning of the volume. (BAC)


Reducing the Odds

Reducing the Odds

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1999-02-13

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 9780309062862

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Thousands of HIV-positive women give birth every year. Further, because many pregnant women are not tested for HIV and therefore do not receive treatment, the number of children born with HIV is still unacceptably high. What can we do to eliminate this tragic and costly inheritance? In response to a congressional request, this book evaluates the extent to which state efforts have been effective in reducing the perinatal transmission of HIV. The committee recommends that testing HIV be a routine part of prenatal care, and that health care providers notify women that HIV testing is part of the usual array of prenatal tests and that they have an opportunity to refuse the HIV test. This approach could help both reduce the number of pediatric AIDS cases and improve treatment for mothers with AIDS. Reducing the Odds will be of special interest to federal, state, and local health policymakers, prenatal care providers, maternal and child health specialists, public health practitioners, and advocates for HIV/AIDS patients. January


Prenatal Care

Prenatal Care

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1988-02-01

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0309038928

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Prenatal care programs have proven effective in improving birth outcomes and preventing low birthweight. Yet over one-fourth of all pregnant women in the United States do not begin prenatal care in the first 3 months of pregnancy, and for some groupsâ€"such as black teenagersâ€"participation in prenatal care is declining. To find out why, the authors studied 30 prenatal care programs and analyzed surveys of mothers who did not seek prenatal care. This new book reports their findings and offers specific recommendations for improving the nation's maternity system and increasing the use of prenatal care programs.