A brief history of Maternal and Child Health in the International arena?

March 22, 2013 2:32 PM

I am looking for a succinct synapses of the history of international Maternal and Child Health (MCH) initiatives since it first became an issue until the present which would be, I think, the Millennium Development Goals? Or is there something more recent? It would, ideally, be an article that outlines that background rather than a complete book that explains it all in detail. Can you help?
posted by lil' ears to society & culture (4 answers total)

Hey, I may have a couple ideas for you if I hear more about specifically why you're looking for it. Not sure I can think of an article, but might have a couple books to recommend. Say more?
posted by latkes at 9:05 PM on March 22

Thanks! I am just looking for a really brief background before I launch into current practices by groups like WHO, USAID, etc. I am just looking for a few sentences such as, "In the US, it was not until the 1850s that maternal and child health care became a discussion...1880s US attention to milk qualities...MCH brought up for the first time at the 4th International Sanitary Conference in 1909..."

Those are just ones that I have found, but I also do not want to get to detailed. I have one working article right now, but any additional ones would be handy...though the top 2-3 MCH books on your list would be informative too.

Thanks in advance!
posted by lil' ears at 12:35 PM on March 23

Huh, I can't think of such an article. I can think of some sort of milestones and search terms you can try googling though (which you maybe already know but, just in case...), and also wikipedia might be your best resource here for short and sweet summaries.

I'd google the histories of groups like UNICEF and UNFPA, IPPF and other NGOs that have been in this business a long time (reading the history section of EngenderHealths wikipedia page is pretty informative).

Major threads of this history are the eugenics movement and the white proto-feminsts who were leaders in it, WWII and the formation of UN based aid programs for women and children, 70s & 80s feminism and the creation of the concept (and cooptation) of "Reproductive Rights". I'd also look up the Mexico City Policy and the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo 1994.

I'd look into the Nestle boycott in the 70s, and the label "Traditional Birth Attendants" which is how international maternal health people refer to traditional midwives.

Did you see this already? Domestic focus but lots of detail (I know you really don't want this much detail!)

Good luck. Still not sure I'm on the right track of what you need but hope something is helpful.
posted by latkes at 11:14 PM on March 24

That MCH timeline is awesome, latkes, thanks!
posted by lil' ears at 10:27 AM on March 25