Editing Infant mortality (section)

== History ==
[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 103.png|thumb|right|This 1860 woodcut by [[Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld]] depicts the death of Bathsheba's first child with David, who lamented, "I shall go to him, but he will not return to me" ({{bibleref2|2 Samuel|12:23}}).]]
It was in the early 1900s when countries around the world started to notice that there was a need for better child health care services; first in Europe, and then with the United States creating a campaign to decrease the infant mortality rate. With this program, they were able to lower the IMR from 100 deaths to 10 deaths per every 1,000 births.<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Brosco JP |date=February 1999 |title=The early history of the infant mortality rate in America: "A reflection upon the past and a prophecy of the future" |url=http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/103/2/478 |journal=Pediatrics |volume=103 |issue=2 |pages=478–85 |doi=10.1542/peds.103.2.478 |pmid=9925845}}</ref> When infant mortality began being noticed as a national problem it was viewed a social problem, and [[middle class]] American women with an educational background started to create a movement to provide housing for families of a lower [[social class]]. Through this movement they were able to establish public health care and government agencies, which in turn made more sanitary and healthier environments for infants. Medical professionals helped further the cause for infant health by creating the field of [[pediatrics]], which is devoted to the medical care of children.<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Hargraves M, Thomas RW |date=November 1993 |title=Infant mortality: its history and social construction |journal=American Journal of Preventive Medicine |volume=9 |issue=6 Suppl |pages=17–26 |doi=10.1016/S0749-3797(18)30661-5 |pmid=8123283}}</ref>

===United States===
In the 20th century decreases in infant mortality around the world were linked to several common trends, including social programs, improved sanitation, improved access to healthcare, and improved education, as well as scientific advancements like the discovery of [[penicillin]] and the development of safer [[blood transfusion]]s.<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsus/vsus_1950_1.pdf |title=Vital Statistics of the United States |date=1954 |publisher=United States Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |volume=1 |vauthors=Dunn HL}}</ref>

In the United States, improving infant mortality in the early half of the 20th century meant tackling environmental factors. By improving sanitation, especially access to safe drinking water, the United States dramatically decreased infant mortality, which had been a growing concern in the United States since the 1850s.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Save the babies : American public health reform and the prevention of infant mortality, 1850-1929 |vauthors=Meckel RA |date=1998 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-08556-9 |location=Ann Arbor |oclc=39269607}}</ref> During this time the United States also endeavored to increase education and awareness regarding infant mortality. [[Pasteurization]] of milk also helped the United States combat infant mortality in the early 1900s, as it helped curb disease in infants.<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4838a2.htm |title=Achievements in Public Health, 1900 - 1999: Healthier Mothers and Babies |date=1999 |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |issue=38 |volume=48 |pages=849–858 |work=Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)}}</ref> These factors, on top of a general increase in the standard of living in urban areas, helped the United States make dramatic improvements to their rates of infant mortality in the early 20th century.

Although the overall infant mortality rate was sharply dropping during this time, within the United States infant mortality varied greatly among racial and socio-economic groups. Between 1915 and 1933 the change in infant mortality per 1,000 births was, for the white population, 98.6 down to 52.8 per 1,000, and for the black population, 181.2 to 94.4 per 1,000 - studies imply that this has a direct correlation with relative economic conditions between these populations.<ref>{{Cite journal |name-list-style=vanc |vauthors=Woodbury RM |date=November 1936 |title=Infant Mortality in the United States |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |volume=188 |pages=94–106 |doi=10.1177/000271623618800110 |jstor=1020363 |s2cid=144927978}}</ref> Additionally, infant mortality in [[Southern United States|southern states]] was consistently 2% higher than other regions in the US across a 20-year period starting in 1985. Southern states also tend to perform worse on predictors for higher infant mortality, such as per capita income and poverty rate.<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Menifield CE, Dawson J |year=2008 |title=Infant mortality in southern states: a bureaucratic nightmare |journal=Journal of Health and Human Services Administration |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=385–402 |doi=10.1177/107937390803100302 |jstor=41288095 |pmid=19209565}}</ref>

In the latter half of the 20th century, a focus on greater access to medical care for women spurred declines in infant mortality in the United States. The implementation of [[Medicaid]], granting wider access to healthcare, contributed to a dramatic decrease in infant mortality, as did greater access to legal abortion and family-planning care, such the [[Intrauterine device|IUD]] and the birth control pill.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Determinants of Health: An Economic Perspective |vauthors=Jacobowitz S, Grossman M |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2017 |isbn=9780231544511 |veditors=Grossman M |location=New York |pages=305–330 |chapter=Variations in Infant Mortality Rates among Counties of the United States: The Roles of Public Policies and Programs |doi=10.7312/gros17812 |jstor=10.7312/gros17812}}</ref>

By 1984, the United States' decreasing infant mortality slowed. Funding for the federally subsidized Medicaid and Maternal and Infant Care programs was reduced, and availability of prenatal care decreased for low-income parents.<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Miller CA |date=July 1985 |title=Infant mortality in the U.S |journal=Scientific American |volume=253 |issue=1 |pages=31–7 |bibcode=1985SciAm.253a..31M |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0785-31 |jstor=24967721 |pmid=4001915}}</ref>

=== China ===
The growth of medical resources in the People's Republic of China's during the latter half of the 20th century partly explains its dramatic improvement regarding infant mortality during this time. The [[Rural Cooperative Medical System]], which was founded in the 1950s, granted healthcare access to previously underserved rural populations, and is estimated to have covered 90% of China's rural population throughout the 1960s. The Cooperative Medical System achieved an infant mortality rate of 25.09 per 1,000; while it was later defunded, leaving many rural populations to rely on an expensive fee-for-service system, the rate continued to decline.<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Liu X, Cao H |date=1992 |title=China's Cooperative Medical System: its historical transformations and the trend of development |journal=Journal of Public Health Policy |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=501–11 |doi=10.2307/3342538 |jstor=3342538 |pmid=1287043 |s2cid=1977035}}</ref> As the Cooperative Medical System was replaced, the change caused a socio-economic gap in accessibility to medical care in China, however this was not reflected in its declining infant mortality rate; prenatal care was increasingly used, and delivery assistance remained accessible.<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Song S, Burgard SA |date=September 2011 |title=Dynamics of inequality: mother's education and infant mortality in China, 1970-2001 |journal=Journal of Health and Social Behavior |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=349–64 |doi=10.1177/0022146511410886 |jstor=23033284 |pmid=21896686 |s2cid=25288570}}</ref>

China's [[one-child policy]], adopted in the 1980s, negatively impacted its infant mortality. Women carrying unapproved pregnancies faced state consequences and [[social stigma]] and were thus less likely to use prenatal care. Additionally, economic realities and long-held cultural factors incentivized male offspring, leading some families who already had sons to avoid prenatal care or professional delivery services, and causing China to have unusually high female infant mortality rates during this time.<ref>{{Cite journal |name-list-style=vanc |vauthors=Lai D |date=2005 |title=Sex Ratio at Birth and Infant Mortality Rate in China: An Empirical Study |journal=Social Indicators Research |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=313–326 |doi=10.1007/s11205-004-1542-y |jstor=27522168 |s2cid=143548315}}</ref>