Improvements in Public Health
During the 20th century, an enormous improvement in public health led to an overall decrease in death rates. Infant mortality rates and maternal mortality rates have dramatically decreased. In the early 1900's, 6-9 women died in pregnancy-related complications for every 1000 births, while 100 infants died before they were 1 year old. In 1999, at the end of the century, the infant mortality rate in the United States declined more than 90% to 7.2 deaths per 1000 live births. Similarly, maternal mortality rates declined almost 99% to less than 0.1 reported deaths per 1000 live births.
There are a variety of causes for this steep decline in death rates in the 20th century:
• Environmental interventions
• Improvement in nutrition
• Advances in clinical medicine (sulfonamide in 1937, penicillin in the 1940's)
• Improved access to health care
• Improvements in surveillance and monitoring disease
• Increases in education levels
• Improvement in standards of living.
Despite these tremendous decreases in infant mortality and maternal mortality, the 20th century experienced significant disparities between minority death rates compared to death rates for white mothers. In the 1900's, black women were twice as likely to die while giving birth compared to white women. Towards the end of the 20th century, black women are three times as likely to die while giving birth. This disparity is often cited as a lack in stronger Health care in the United States.
Read more about this topic: Death Rates In The 20th Century
Famous quotes containing the words improvements, public and/or health:
“The improvements of ages have had but little influence on the essential laws of man’s existence: as our skeletons, probably, are not to be distinguished from those of our ancestors.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Navajo men and boys have an odd way of showing their friendship. When two young men meet at the trading post, a “Sing”, or a dance they greet each other, inquire about the health of their respective families, then stand silently some ten or fifteen minutes while one feels the other’s arms, shoulders, and chest.”
—Administration in the State of Ariz, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Medication alone is not to be relied on. In one half the cases medicine is not needed, or is worse than useless. Obedience to spiritual and physical laws—hygeine [sic] of the body, and hygeine of the spirit—is the surest warrant for health and happiness.”
—Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)