Health of Women and Children

Mortality Rates.

The improvement of maternal and child hygiene, a trend throughout the 1920s, was set in motion by disturbing mortality rates. In 1921 there were 18,000 maternal deaths, or 68 maternal deaths for every 10,000 live births. The statistics for children were not any better, with 248,432 deaths recorded for children under five in 1920.

Significant Reforms.

The astonishing data in the early 1920s was enough to rouse public interest and evoke changes in the state of public health and welfare. The changes were many and varied, including the establishment of divisions of child hygiene, infant welfare stations, and additional public-health nursing services. In addition, the American Child Health Organization was formed by the merging of six national organizations. The leadership of Herbert Hoover, later president of the United States, assured that the children's health movement would receive increased...

[The entire page is 967 words long]

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