The goal of the Maternal-Child Health (MCH) theme is to
improve the health and well-being of women, children, youth and their families.
Maternal and Child Health, within Public Health, takes a population-based
perspective on research, education, advocacy, and administration.
Students interested in this area can follow a
curriculum in physical and cognitive development, health
problems, relevant health services and policies, appropriate research methods,
and program planning and evaluation. Typically, MCH practitioners are involved
with infrastructure building (e.g. needs assessment to identify essential gaps
in existing programs serving mothers and children, enhancement of information
systems, standards development), population health monitoring (e.g. incidence
of very low birthweight infants, incidence of adolescent suicide) and applied
prevention research (e.g. planning and evaluation of home-based injury
prevention programs for toddlers). MCH works at a systems level to complement
direct services provided by clinical practice providers.
