Volume 1

Building America's health : a report to the President / by the President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation.

  • United States. President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation
Date:
1952-1953
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Building America's health : a report to the President / by the President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    80/100 (page 64)
    Health Problems of Special Popula- tion Groups Just as we have singled out for particular attention certain special health problems which affect the whole population, so it seems desirable to examine certain groups in the population with health problems which are especially related to each group. Focusing attention on these groups should not be taken to imply that their health differs fundamentally from that of the rest of the population, or that their health services should differ fundamentally. Rather, it means that the group presents a concentration of particular kinds of problems which deserve emphasis. These groups include mothers and children, industrial workers, rural people, migratory workers, the aging, and other Federal military personnel, veterans, eneficiaries. Mothers and Children Today there are more children than at any other time in our history, more than 47 million under 18 years of age. During the decade 1940 to 1950, the number of children under five years of age increased 53 percent. Each year has seen a great improvement in child health. Nevertheless, there remain many de- ficiencies in health services to the children of this Nation. Enormous gains have been made in the prevention and cure of disease among children. Child-bearing has never been safer. Many diseases which were once prevalent in the childhood years have now largely dis- appeared. In fact, the whole base of medical care for children is now changing from the treatment of disease to the promotion of health. We are emerging from an era of activity where physicians, nurses and social workers were rushing about taking care of sick children, to an era when knowledge and time are be- coming available to help the well stay well. In short, health care is shifting from the defensive to the offensive. From our present vantage point we see many needed steps along the road to the objective of good health services for all mothers and children. First is the need for more well-trained physicians, dentists, nurses, social workers, and others who in their professional capacities assume responsibility for the health and welfare of children. All of these dis- ciplines require still greater emphasis upon the prob- 64 lems peculiar to the emotional and physical growth of children. : Second is the need to overcome the barriers to good medical care which result from geographic and from economic causes. In those sections of the country where physicians, hospitals, and other health resources are deficient, and where per capita income is low, the quantity and quality of health services for children and mothers are proportionately low. Three measures can do much to remedy these inequities: (1) extension of local public health services, (2) provision for special diagnostic and consultation service in pediatrics and obstetrics for rural communities, and (3) regional planning. The first is part of the move to establish local health units throughout the Nation. No matter what other services are included in a local health unit, maternal and child health services invariably receive prominent attention. Regional planning, given special emphasis by the American Academy of Pediatrics as a result of its nation-wide survey of child health sery- ices, is one means of creating a direct channel between the urban center and the rural services. It brings to the remote areas the benefits of the latest research, new procedures and high quality services of the medical center. Third is the need for more research in the field of child life, to improve existing techniques and to raise the standards higher. Particular attention should be given to two factors which still stand as leading causes of death and disability—premature birth and accident. One long overdue measure for child health is con- certed action directed at the problem of the distressingly large number of children who are emotionally dis- turbed, mentally deficient, mentally ill, or suffering from epilepsy. In no other area of child life has so little progress been made. The problem does not in- volve the child alone, but rather the child as a member of the family unit. The family must be accepted as the irreducible unit for health service. Unfortunately one out of nine children lives in a home broken because of divorce, separation, or premature death of parents. Such disrupted families often give rise to emotional abnormalities not only in childhood but also in later life. Vast sums of public money are being spent each year on school health examinations. How often have chil- dren and parents been needlessly alarmed because of hasty misinterpretation of some innocuous finding by a school physician? Less time should be spent on per- functory annual examinations of school children as they are too often performed today. More time should be