This paper discusses the findings of a study conducted in south central Los Angeles in August 1992 among women in the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children. The goals of the study were to determine the current demographics of WIC participants; examine the financial hardship, need for relief services, and extent of hunger resulting from the civil unrest of April 1992; look at the effects of the unrest on different ethnic groups; determine the unmet need for WIC services; and evaluate the State and local WIC responses to the unrest. The 1,189 respondents were approximately 77 percent Latina, 20 percent African American, and 3 percent white. Half or more were recent immigrants, 19 percent were pregnant and parenting adolescents, 74 percent were school dropouts, and 56 percent were single mothers. Only 1 percent had any problems using WIC vouchers after the unrest, although more than half of their grocery stores had closed. Thirty-five percent experienced food deficits in their households, and 33 percent of those who applied for emergency food stamps had trouble getting them. Four percent said their children had gone to bed hungry in the last week, and 9 percent said they, the respondents, had as well. Only 2 percent needed shelter, and 1 percent became homeless, but 6 percent had family members who lost jobs due to the unrest. This study suggests that the chronically substandard conditions under which many families in south central Los Angeles live affect them more profoundly than did the dramatic consequences of the civil unrest.
Starling national statistics indicate that New Haven, CT, is the seventh poorest city of its size, in terms of per capita income, in the United States. In 1989, it was reported to have the highest rate of infant mortality--18.5 infant deaths per 1,00...
Fatality rates from residential fires are high among American Indians. Contact burns and scalds are also among the leading types of thermal injuries. Information about the prevalence of risk factors for burn injuries is required to design interventio...
Fowkes, V K; Gamel, N N; Wilson, S R; Garcia, R D;
Published Date:
1994 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(5):673-682
Description:
A study of physician assistant, nurse practitioner, and certified nurse midwifery programs was undertaken to identify and assess the effectiveness of recruitment, educational, and deployment strategies that programs use to prepare practitioners for m...
Kogan, M D; Alexander, G R; Kotelchuck, M; Nagey, D A; Jack, B W;
Published Date:
1994 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(5):637-646
Description:
The Public Health Service's Expert Panel on the Content of Prenatal Care Report in 1989 provided detailed guidelines for the components of each prenatal visit. However, the extent to which women were receiving the recommended care when the guidelines...
Ganikos, M L; McNeil, C; Braslow, J B; Arkin, E B; Klaus, D; Oberley, E E; White, M F;
Published Date:
1994 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(5):626-631
Description:
The chasm between the supply and demand of donated organs and tissues continues to grow despite widespread public awareness of transplantation and numerous efforts to educate the public about organ donation. It is fast becoming a significant public h...
Includes announcement: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Issues Plan to Address Emerging Infectious Diseases" [National Center for Infectious Diseases (U.S.) . Addressing emerging infectious disease threats : a prevention strategy for t...
Hennessy, Catherine Hagan; Moriarty, David G.; Zack, Matthew M.; Scherr, Paul A.; Brackbill, Rovert;
Published Date:
1994 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(5):665-672
Description:
In public health research and practice, quality of life is increasingly acknowledged as a valid and appropriate indicator of service need and intervention outcomes. Health-related quality of life measures, including objective and subjective assessmen...
Two of the best ways to improve the quality of childhood nutrition are (a) more collaboration at the national, State, and local levels and (b) adoption of innovative and multimedia learning methods, according to the leaders of nutrition education. Th...
Sheon, A R; Fox, H E; Alexander, G; Buck, A; Higgins, A; McDermott, S M; Moroso, G; Moye, J; Pacheco-Acosta, E;
Published Date:
1994 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(5):694-699
Description:
Out of nearly 900 women in a research study of human immunodeficiency virus infection in pregnancy, 8 were subsequently found not to be infected. Misdiagnoses could have resulted from (a) laboratory errors or specimen mixups; (b) failure to follow th...
Robinson, Chester A.; Evans, Willard B.; Mahanes, Joan Atchison; Sepe, Stephen J.;
Published Date:
1994 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(5):594-600
Description:
President Clinton submitted the Comprehensive Childhood Immunization Initiative Act to Congress in April 1993. The objective of the legislation is to protect all children in the United States by their second birthday against nine vaccine-preventable ...
Turnock, Bernard J.; Handler, Arden; Hall, William; Potsic, Steven; Nalluri, Ravi; Vaughn, Edward H.;
Published Date:
1994 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(5):653-658
Description:
Objective 8.14 of the Year 2000 National Health Objectives calls for 90 percent of the population to be served by a local health department effectively carrying out the three core functions of public health--assessment, policy development, and assura...
Langer, Lilly M.; Zimmerman, Rick S.; Cabral, Rebecca J.;
Published Date:
1994 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(5):683-687
Description:
The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether individual self-reports of perceived ability to use a condom correctly correlated with the actual ability to do so. Participants in the study were 3,059 clients of a sexually transmitted diseas...
Main, Deborah S.; Iverson, Donald C.; McGloin, Joe;
Published Date:
1994 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(5):699-702
Description:
In a survey of 2,548 adolescents, 11.5 percent reported ever having had the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody test. Those who had been tested were significantly more likely to be male, black, and to reside in metropolitan areas than those w...
Miller, C. Ardem; Moore, Karen S.; Richards, Thomas B.; McKaig, Catharine;
Published Date:
1994 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(5):659-664
Description:
Current studies are attempting to develop a national surveillance system to measure the extent that populations are served by local departments carrying out the core functions of public health. Early phases of the study featured observations on 14 he...
The Midwest flood disaster of 1993 ravaged communities across a 9-State area. Homes were destroyed, roads closed, and services disrupted. Economic costs, including loss of revenue from farming and loss of jobs, are estimated at more than $1 billion. ...
Olack, Beatrice; Feikin, Daniel R.; Cosmas, Leonard O.; Odero, Kennedy O.; Okoth, George O.; Montgomery, Joel M.; Breiman, Robert F.;
Published Date:
Jan 28 2014
Source:
PLoS One. 2014; 9(1).
Description:
BackgroundWe used population based infectious disease surveillance to characterize mortality rates in residents of an urban slum in Kenya.MethodsWe analyzed biweekly household visit data collected two weeks before death for 749 cases who died during ...
Stroever, Stephanie J.; Mackert, Michael S.; McAlister, Alfred L.; Hoelscher, Deanna M.;
Published Date:
Oct 17 2011
Source:
Prev Chronic Dis. 2011; 8(6).
Description:
The objective of this study was to determine the value of using social media to communicate child health information to low-income parents. We evaluated qualitative data obtained through focus groups with low-income, predominantly Hispanic parents. R...
Gase, Lauren N.; McCarthy, William J.; Robles, Brenda; Kuo, Tony;
Published Date:
Apr 16 2014
Source:
Prev Med. 2014; 67(0 1):S28-S33
Description:
ObjectiveWe sought to characterize student receptivity to new menu offerings in the Los Angeles Unified School District by measuring the levels of fruit and vegetable waste after implementation of changes to the school lunch menu in fall 2011.Methods...