Development and Unfolding of the Life Course Movement in the Field of Maternal and Child Health: An Oral History.

Introduction: A life course perspective in maternal, child, and family health allows for integrated exploration of outcomes, incorporating multifactorial determinants of health to interrogate sources of inequity and identify opportunities for intervention. This article explores the historical development, integration, and implications of the contemporary life course perspective in the field of maternal and child health (MCH), and particularly the people and events which institutionalized the framework as central to national and local MCH practice and research over the last decades.

Methods: Drawing on an oral history approach, key leaders of the life course movement in MCH were interviewed.

Optimizing health and health care systems for children with special health care needs using the life course perspective.

To date, life course research in maternal and child health has largely focused on elucidating fetal and early life influences on adult health and less on promoting the health of children with special health care needs (CSHCN). Consideration of life course theory (LCT) for CSHCN is especially important given their increasing prevalence and comorbidity, their disproportionate vulnerability to weaknesses or instability in the health care system, and the growing evidence linking child and adult health and quality of life. In this commentary we seek to advance the consideration of LCT for CSHCN.

The Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute: A collaborative response to urban health issues.

The authors provide background on the poor health and economic status of the residents of East Baltimore, Maryland--the neighborhood surrounding a significant part of Johns Hopkins University, including the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Johns Hopkins Hospital. The president of the Johns Hopkins University established a council on urban health, consisting of a broad array of individuals from across the university and the community to develop a recommended course of action to help deal with these conditions. Based on the recommendations of the council, the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute was established with the mission to marshall the resources of the university and external groups to improve the health and well-being of the residents of East Baltimore and to promote evidence-based interventions to solve urban health problems nationwide.