PUBLIC HEALTH, NURSING AND MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1949 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 532-533
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Year ◽  
Surgeon General ◽  
The Public ◽  
Live Births ◽  
Medical Social Work ◽  
Health Nursing ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

A GREATER proportion of births in the United States were delivered in hospitals or institutions in 1947 than in any previous year on record. The number of registered live births rose to a peak of 3,699,940 in 1947, according to a report by Surgeon General Leonard A. Scheele of the Public Health Service. At the same time the proportion occurring in hospitals reached a new high of 84.8%. An additional 10.1% of births in 1947 were attended by physicians outside of hospitals and only about 1 out of 20 births were delivered by a mid-wife or other nonphysician. Since 1935, the first year that data of this kind became available, the percentage of total births delivered in hospitals has more than doubled, rising from 36.9% in 1935 to 84.8% in 1947, according to the report. This increase has been accompanied by a reduction in the proportion of live births delivered by physicians outside of hospitals, from 50.6 in 1935 to 10.1% in 1947, as well as a decline in the percentage delivered by nonphysicians, from 12.5 in 1935 to 5.1% in 1947. The report shows significant progress in recent years in the use of medical and hospital facilities by both the white and nonwhite groups, and by both the urban and rural [See TABLE I in source PDF] population (see Table I). Considerable differences exist between these groups in the extent to which hospitals are used for confinements. In 1947, almost 9 in 10 of the white births occurred in hospitals as compared with about 1 in 2 of the nonwhite births. Only 1.5% of white births were attended by nonphysicians, but almost a third of the nonwhite births were delivered by midwives or other nonphysicians. The differences were less marked as between residents of urban and rural areas (see Table I).

PUBLIC HEALTH, NURSING AND MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1950 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 673-675 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vital Statistics ◽  
First Year ◽  
Medical Social Work ◽  
National Office ◽  
Health Nursing ◽  
Set Up ◽  
First Year Of Life ◽  
Registration Area

CONTINUOUS decline in infant mortality has been maintained in national figures since 1936. Prior to this the preceding 20 years had witnessed a steady downward trend although there had been occasional annual interruptions. Final figures for 1948, issued by The National Office of Vital Statistics in Special Reports, Vol. 35, Number 13, p. 188, August 23, 1950, indicate a total of 113,169 deaths under 1 year of age as having [See Chart I in source pdf.] been registered in the United States. This represents a rate of 32.0 per 1,000 live births, the lowest in our history. Chart 1 indicates the trend in the "Expanding Birth Registration Area" since 1915. In that year the "Area" was set up with 10 states and the District of Columbia. In 1933, with the admission of Texas, the "Area" included all 48 states. Over the 33 year period the decline in total infant mortality has been more than two thirds. The different periods of the first year of life have not, however, shared equally in the decline. The second half of the year has had the most favorable experience with a decline of 85%, while the first day has had the least decline, less than one third.

PUBLIC HEALTH, NURSING AND MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-347
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States Public Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Travel ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Surgeon General ◽  
The Status ◽  
Pan American ◽  
Health Nursing

COLLABORATION among the governments of the Western Hemisphere in regard to their health activities passed another milestone in the XIV Pan American Sanitary Conference held in Santiago, Chile, 7-22 October 1954. There was a considerable difference in atmosphere this time from the first such conference which took place in Washington in 1902. At that time urgent need for mutual operations to control yellow fever, so widespread as to interfere seriously with international travel and commerce, was the main subject of discussion and led to agreement to form the "International Sanitary Bureau." Originally only 10 governments participated, but by 1924 the Pan American Sanitary Code was approved, which all 21 republics of the Americas have ratified. This Code is still in force and has the status of an international treaty. Until 1936 the Director elected for the Bureau was the Surgeon-General of the United States Public Health Service, who gave part of his time to the duties of the Bureau but also assigned the full time of a Commissioned Officer of the Service to the Bureau. In 1936, upon his retirement as Surgeon-General, Dr. Hugh S. Cumming dedicated his full time to the Pan American Sanitary Bureau. He was reëlected in 1938 and 1942 for 2 more terms.

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