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Biomedical subjects

Howard Markel

Publications and source records attributed to Howard Markel.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Successes and missed opportunities in protecting our children's health: critical junctures in the history of children's health policy in the United States.

This article revisits several turning points in the history of child health policy for the purpose of understanding why many current health needs of children have not been addressed. We demonstrate how the rupture of ties between child medical and child welfare leaders, as well as the fault lines between various health care professionals, led to difficulties in establishing programs for children in the early 20th century. We note how wartime mobilizations helped to make the needs of the nation's youth apparent to political leaders and observe that programs begun in response to these discoveries often were ended in peacetime. Finally, we discuss how politics shaped the situation wherein maternal and child health programs, including Medicaid, are need based, severely underfunded, and administered by the states, whereas benefit programs for the elderly, including Medicare and Social Security, are general entitlements administered at the federal level.

Child↗
PubMed2004

International efforts to control infectious diseases, 1851 to the present.

Many 21st-century observers explain international efforts to control infectious diseases as a function of globalization and recent transformations in international commerce, transportation, and human migration. However, these contemporary global health initiatives can be more fully understood by also exploring the origins of international health organizations and regulations, which were initially dedicated exclusively to stemming the tide of infectious epidemics. This article reviews 3 eras of international approaches to controlling infectious diseases (1851-1881, 1881-1945, and 1945 to the present) and concludes by assessing how nations have a strong fiscal and humanitarian incentive to invest in infectious disease control programs and infrastructures in and beyond their own borders.

Communicable Disease Control↗
PubMed2002

The foreignness of germs: the persistent association of immigrants and disease in American society.

During the 20th century the United States witnessed social, political, and economic transformations as well as advancements in medical diagnosis and care. Despite changes in demography, the meaning of citizenship, and the ability to treat and cure acute and chronic diseases, foreigners were consistently associated with germs and contagion. This article explores why, at critical junctures in American history, immigrants have been stigmatized as the etiology of a variety of physical and societal ills. The article analyzes three periods from 1880 to the present and suggests that now, as germs progressively and, often, indiscriminately cross national, social, and economic boundaries through multiple vectors, the mistakes of the past must not be repeated. Protecting the public health in the current era of globalization requires an ecumenical, pragmatic, and historically informed approach to understanding the links between immigration and disease.

Chronic Disease↗