Search

Studies in social problems have centered on a variety of phenomena of the American scene, including juvenile delinquency, crime, divorce, alcoholism, and mental illness. While in the last fifteen years, attention has been focused on the multiple background variables related to a given social problem, as the genetic. social, and psychological predictors to criminality, little attention has been given to multiplicity of social problems occurring within defined segments of society. This article focuses on multiple social problems to slum areas, implicitly suggesting that inhabitants of these areas are socially maladjusted in a variety of ways, few efforts have been made to examine the range of social problems found in a given group of individuals. A study now in progress is concerned with the occurrence of deviant social behavior in adults with a history of childhood behavior problems. The rate of occurrence of various expressions of social deviance, including not only criminal behavior, but also failure to achieve satisfactory employment status, transiency, alcoholism, mental illness, unstable marital relations, inadequacy as parents and social isolation, is being investigated and contrasted with the rate of occurrence of these phenomena among a control group of adults without serious childhood behavior problems.

During a 5-year-period, 19 children died of complications of sickle cell anemia, giving a S year mortality rate of 8.4% in this Chicago clinic. The children, 13 girls, 6 boys, ranged in ages from 7 months to 13 years. A disproportionate number of deaths occurred amongst the younger children. Infections caused 6 deaths, acute splenic sequestration crisis 4, cerebrovascular occlusion 3, cardiovascular pulmonary 3, profound unexplained anemia 1, anemia secondary to epistaxis 1, and unexplained 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an analysis of the major causes of death and their relative importance in various age groups of children admitted to Mulago Hospital over two years. The shortcoming of such results is that they are not representative of the deaths in the community. However, they provide needed information before country-wide vital statistics become available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a look at the rate of accidents in the U.S. as of 1931. No account of urban health could be complete without a consideration of the growing list of disablements and casualties resulting from accidents of various sorts and from occupational diseases. The death rate from all accidents decreased from 85.5 percent per 100, 000 population in 1913 to 68.7 in 1921, but since 1921 has shown a fairly steady increase. Motor vehicle accidents account almost entirely for the increase in casualties. Among young children, from one to four years of age, accidents are the second most important cause of death. The automobile accounts in large measure for the great increase in fatal and nonfatal accidents during the last fifteen years. It is a surprising fact that reported fatal home accidents for the past two years have just about matched the total of industrial fatalities. Aviation accidents have naturally show an increase during the last ten years as a result of the great interest in flying, but the number of miles flown per accident shows a considerable increase. Legislation as a means of curbing home accidents offers at best but little promise. Safety education, then, must be regarded from the very necessity of the case as an essential of the present day curriculum.

The article presents a list of periodical articles and pamphlets related to children including "Solving Problems of Problem Children," by Jack W. Birch and Edward H. Stullken, "Vocational Therapy," by Jan Burt, "New Horizons: Readable Books About Physically Handicapped, Adults and Young People," by Dorothy R. Busby, Psychological Impact of Long Illness and Death of a Child on the Family," by Beatrix Cobb and "A Study of Behavior Patterns in Asthmatic Children," by M. Coleman Harris and Norman Shure.

This article demonstrates that unmet and serious child health needs do exist in the U.S. The most striking single demonstration that unmet and serious child health needs exists lies in infant mortality statistics. Among nations of the world, in this category, the U.S. ranks fifteenth. The infant mortality rate in 1964 was 24.8 per 1,000 live births. A second broad area of unmet need includes the chronic and handicapping conditions. Twenty to 40 percent of all children suffer from one or more of these.

In this article, the first part of the National Center for Health Statistics' analysis of the patterns of living and dying in the U.S., is presented. The figures are for 1967, which is as fast as its data-gathering mechanisms can operate. The overall death rate for 1967 was 936 per 100,000 estimated midyear population. For the figures for deaths in infancy, the total infant mortality rate has declined only slowly from 26.0 in 1960 and from 25.2 in 1963. And there has always been a difference in the mortality risk for nonwhite as compared with white infants.

The article provides some facts about childhood accidents in the U.S. The rate of accident death among children is being reduced by only one-third as fast as the rate for death by disease. The childhood mortality continues high because of accidents that for the most part are preventable. Preventable accidents are the leading causes of death in the age group of 1 to 14 years old.

This article reports on preventive social measures aimed at reducing infant death and child mortality rates in Great Britain. The Children's' Act, which has educated the nation rapidly as to the rights of junior citizens and the corresponding duties of senior citizens towards the helpless. Health visitors are being increasingly appointed. Even in London, England, all but half-a-dozen Borough Councils have now one or more such female officers, usually appointed as full Sanitary Inspector. Probably when women become better represented on Country and Borough Councils, this developments of Public Health work will be forested. The need of sterilizing milk is easily taught to an interested crowd with such an object lesson before. Probably, however, the main factor in aiding the declension of the Infant mortality rate, in the near future, will be that the declension of the Infant Mortality rate, in the near future, will be that denizen of the mean streets sees that someone cares for her little British baby and its health.

Discusses the prevalence of asthma in children in the United States. Asthma mortality; Comparison of incidence of asthma between male and female; Debate on whether extrinsic and intrinsic asthma should be considered as a single entity or must be separated for purposes of epidemiologic study.

Highlights the "1970 Cancer Facts and Figures" report of the American Cancer Society. Estimated number of children under the age of 15 who will die of cancer in 1970; Prediction that almost half of them will die of leukemia, which is a cancer of blood-forming tissues.

Discusses the health and social problems of rural children and youth in Latin America. Nutritional status of children; Poor environmental sanitation; Shortage of hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and medical staff; Mortality rate in rural areas.

In this article, it is presented that the Pan American Health Organization, which acts as the regional organization for the World Health Organization in the Americas, has announced the start of a two-year study of mortality in children under five, an age group with high death rates, in selected areas of eight American countries. The study, which began in June 1968, will consists of 13 projects covering urban and rural areas, large cities and small towns, and highlands and lowlands in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Jamaica, and Mexico.

This article provides statistical facts about accidental deaths among school children in the U.S. According to the article, the abrupt decrease in parental supervision which accompanies the entry of a child into school seems related directly to an abrupt increase in accidental deaths in children. More than 80 per cent of all fatal accidents in children aged five to 14 occur away from home. The decline in the over-all death rate from 20.0 per 100,000 children in 1955 to 18.1 in 1961 and in 1962 has been reversed, and the estimated rate for 1966 is again 20.0 per 100,000.

This article addresses the increasing number of accidents in infancy in the U.S. as of September 1965. According to data from the Division of Vital Statistics as analyzed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., accidents take more than 3,600 lives annually in the U.S. among babies under one year of age. Almost half of the fatal accidents in infants take place in the first three months of life and nearly three-fourths in the first six months. Thirty percent of these fatalities is caused by inhalation or ingestion of food and other objects leading to obstruction or suffocation. Deaths reported as due to suffocation by such mechanical means as bed clothes and pillows rank second.

The article reports on infant and childhood mortality in the U.S. as of April 1965. The infant mortality rate for the U.S was 25.3 per 1,000 live births in 1961. Based on provisional figures for the 12 months ending March 1964, the rate has continued near this level, being 24.7. Nearly 3 of 4 infant deaths occurred in the neonatal period, and 2 out of 5 before one day of age. Postneonatal mortality was 6.9 per 1,000. The rate of childhood mortality has shown a decrease of 29.3% in 1961 from the 1951 rates.