School-Based Health Centers: Enabling Health Care Access for Children and Youth “Where They Are”
School-based health centers serve over 2 million students attending U.S. public schools each year and can help reduce health-related absences and support students to be healthy and ready to learn in the classroom.
CHIP Reauthorization: Details and Implications
This Issue Focus article summarizes a February 2009 Grantmakers In Health audio conference, which discussed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 and featured Cindy Mann, executive director of the Center for Children and Families at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute.
Bridging, Building, and Beyond: Breaking Down Barriers to Health Improvement
This resource portfolio from GIH’s 2008 annual meeting Bridging, Building, and Beyond: Breaking Down Barriers to Health Improvement, features six essays written by GIH staff.
Ensuring the Health of America’s Children: Progress and Opportunities
Behind the headlines of a weakened U.S. economy and rising unemployment are two related developments: the transformation of health care coverage into an issue of real salience to working families and the middle class, and the ways in which states have crafted, and will continue to craft, an effective response.
Establishing Public-Private Partnerships for Maternal and Child Health
Established in 1935 under Title V of the Social Security Act, the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services Block Grant is one of the largest federal block grant programs and a critical source of flexible funding for public health. Commonly referred to as Title V, the MCH block grant is used to support core MCH public health functions in states, assess needs, and identify and address gaps in services.
Pediatric Medical Homes: The What and Why of It All
The “medical home” encompasses the places, people, and processes involved in providing comprehensive primary care services. Medical homes replace episodic patient care with a holistic approach fostering ongoing physician-patient relationships, systematic care coordination, and addressing the “whole person.” They also must deliver physician-directed patient care that is accessible, family-centered, comprehensive, continuous, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally effective.
Infant Mortality: Racial and Regional Disparities
Infant mortality is an important measure of maternal and child health status, as well as a broader indicator of a society’s health and well-being. In the United States infant mortality rates have held stubbornly at about 7 percent for the last 10 years. This statistic, however, masks significant racial and regional disparities.
Early Childhood Development: The Building Blocks of Health and Well-being
From birth to age five, a child’s brain develops at a rapid pace. As the brain’s foundation is laid, the presence or absence of critical developmental building blocks can profoundly influence a child’s cognitive, emotional, and social potential. Brain and body development are inextricably intertwined; any assessment of a child’s health must consider that a…
Promoting Children’s Mental Health
The problem has been well documented: approximately one in five children and adolescents experiences a mental health disorder in any given year, and 1 in 10 of all youth experiences a mental illness that severely disrupts his or her daily functioning. Yet more than two-thirds who need mental health services do not receive them. While untreated mental illness can set an individual on a devastating path, early intervention or prevention can correct the course.