Maternal, Child, and Family Health

Maternal, child, and family health focuses on the health of women, infants, and children before, during, and after pregnancy. A mother's health largely influences a child's long-term development and wellness. Prenatal care, breastfeeding, and preventing infants’ and children’s deaths are key to analyzing the health of families. Children who have strong parental, family, and caregiver support are better equipped in handling adversity.

Historical Spotlight on Health

In November 1921, U.S. Congress passed the National Maternity and Infancy Protection Act, also called the Sheppard-Towner Act. The Act provided federal funds to states to establish programs to educate people about prenatal health and infant welfare. Wisconsin was one of many states that accepted funding through the Sheppard-Towner Act which led to the establishment of nearly 3,000 prenatal care clinics, 180,000 infant care seminars, over three million home visits by traveling nurses, and a distribution of educational materials between 1921 and 1928. The Act provided funding for five years but was repealed in 1929 after Congress did not renew it.¹ The overall infant mortality rate did decline between the years of 1921 and 1929, and later commentators estimated that the Sheppard-Towner Act helped tens of thousands of infants.¹ Though the Act supported many infants, it also drastically reduced the numbers of Black and African American “Granny Midwives”. In rural America, African American midwives were the only viable options for expectant Black and White mothers, where hospitals were rarely accessible, and few doctors were available to serve these populations.² The Sheppard-Towner Act put in place more regulations that controlled the work of midwives, and intentionally sought to remove traditional remedies and practices.³

The Black infant mortality rate is more than four times higher than the rate among White infants in Rock County. Rock County’s history similar to that across the nation has created an inequity in many health outcomes. There is a gap specific to low birth weights and infant mortality for the Black community.*  

  1. Madgett, Katherine, "Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Protection Act (1921)". Embryo Project Encyclopedia ( 2017-05-18 ). ISSN: 1940-5030 https://hdl.handle.net/10776/11503

  2. National Museum of African American History and Culture, 2020: https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/historical-significance-doulas-and-midwives

  3. Molly Ladd-Taylor, ‘Grannies’ and ‘Spinsters’: Midwife Education under the Sheppard-Towner Act, Journal of Social History, Volume 22, Issue 2, Winter 1988, Pages 255–275, https://doi.org/10.1353/jsh/22.2.255

*View the data in the Maternal, Child, and Family Health dashboard under “Low Birthweights” and “Infant Death Rates”.