Now available for public access and use
is Maternal and Child Health/Public Health Milestones, a web-based, multi-volume
history of MCH and public health in the United States.
Developed by the MCH Leadership Skills Training Institute at the University
of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Maternal and Child Health, with support from the
Maternal and Child Health Bureau, HRSA, this visual and narrative presentation chronicles
milestones from 1792 to the present and highlights in its timeline significant MCH and
public health achievements, momentous political/social events, and landmark legislation,
programs and policies related to the health and well-being of children and families. Historical photos from the National Library of
Congress, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations are
incorporated throughout this chronological account to provide deeper context and temporal
perspective.
This 12-volume
series is provided free as a resource tool for faculty, students and practitioners in MCH
and is relevant to all those working in public health.
Helping the current and future MCH and public health workforce understand
the roots of MCH may engender a greater appreciation of the mission of the MCH field to
ensure the optimal development, health, safety, and well-being of children and their
families. Previous programs, legislation, and
advocacy campaigns reflect the vision and accomplishments of past MCH leaders and provide
a legacy for the current workforce to build upon and pass on to those who will take up the
MCH mission. The final volume of the series
entails a presentation on the philosophy of MCH, focusing on the thoughts of MCH
professionals, both past and present, regarding a fundamental question that continues to
arouse debate: What is MCH?
The reference
for this historical account of MCH is: Alexander
GR, Chadwick C, Petersen DJ, Pass MA, Slay M, Shumpert N.
Maternal and Child Health/Public Health Milestones: Volumes I-XII. MCH Leadership Skills Training Institute,
Department of MCH, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2002 (
http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=45534). Each volume of the series is available in a PDF
file and hard copies can be downloaded from the indicated website. For complementary copies of the original
PowerPoint presentation, please contact Dr. Greg R. Alexander at (205) 934-7161 or
alexandg@uab.edu.
Also available on the website is a Glossary of MCH Terms and Acronyms,
helpful for those new to the MCH field, and Landmark Federal MCH Legislation,
including reproductions of the Children’s Bureau Act, the Sheppard-Towner Act, the
1935 Social Security Act - Title V, OBRA, and COBRA, with an introduction by Drs. Greg
Alexander and Mary Peoples-Sheps.