141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

276522
From the new deal to neoliberalism: Why sociopolitical factors matter for maternal, infant and child health: A critical review

Monday, November 4, 2013 : 8:30 AM - 8:50 AM

Stephen Nkansah-Amankra, PhD, MPH, MA , School of Health Sciences, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI
Reuben Miller, PhD (candidate) , Department of Sociology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago,, IL
While scholars have demonstrated the importance of sociopolitical and economic factors for social outcomes across a host of domains, these considerations have not been as impactful in public health research. Public health scholars have largely taken a risk factor approach to identify the antecedents of negative health outcomes. We review literature on Maternal, Infant and Child Health (MICH) during distinct but contrasting policy periods—the New Deal and Neoliberalism—to examine the role sociopolitical factors play on public health outcomes in the U.S. After discussing the development of public policy responses to negative MICH outcomes, and the stratifying effects of public health administration, we examine the effects of concentrated disadvantage and the implications of two health related policy phenomenon, welfare reform and mass incarceration, that need further consideration in the public health literature. We call on public health scholars to move beyond the risk factor approach, while challenging researchers and strategic healthcare planners to consider the ways in which the sociopolitical context of public health policy contributes to the manner in which population-based health problems are conceptualized and implemented.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Other professions or practice related to public health
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Social and behavioral sciences
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Demonstrate a relationship between the "New Deal" and improved health and neoliberalism and worsening health in the United States. Analyze how emergence of neoliberalization in the U.S. is associated with poor health of mothers. Assess the logic of individualism (associated with neoliberalism) and worsening poor child and maternal health outcomes.

Keywords: Public Policy, Government

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an Assistant Professor of a public university and have been presenting at APHA Conferences.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.