Infant and Child Health in the United States and France

This chapter examines French infant and child health programs that laid the foundation for France's family-centered social democracy. Throughout, it compares French developments to US policies and programs that sought similar child health goals in order to explain why the two nations' outcomes diverged. The comparison begins in the 1870s, when France's infant mortality rate was similar to that of the United States. During these early years, French and American social reformers, physicians, and public health experts collaborated to craft policies aimed at the reduction of maternal and infant mortality, the improvement of child health, and the alleviation of disparities between population subgroups. Ultimately, however, France proved more successful in achieving and sustaining its gains in infant and child health, even as the country experienced dramatic demographic shifts after 1950 due to immigration from its former colonial empire in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The chapter then identifies what lessons American policy makers might learn, adopt, or adapt from the French experience.