History & Legacy

• The University of Illinois at Chicago Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health (UIC CoE-MCH) was established by  Naomi Morris who devoted her life to maternal and child health.
• Since 1983, the CoE has received grant funding from the Maternal and Health Bureau (MCHB) in support of graduate-level training in MCH.

“Perhaps you may ask, ‘Does the road lead uphill all the way?’ and I must answer, ‘Yes, to the very end.’ But if I offer you a long hard struggle, I can also promise you great rewards. Justice for all children is the high ideal in a democracy . . . We have hardly, as yet, made more than a beginning in the realization of that great objective.”  – Grace Abbott, Children’s Bureau Chief 1921-1924

• Title V, included in the Social Security Act of 1935, provides states and territories with funding for MCH programs and services with an aim of improving and enhancing the systems that serve women, children, and families. Title V is a Block Grant that funds MCH programs and activities in all 59 states and jurisdictions. It emphasizes the importance of system integration and care coordination for all mothers, children, and infants, and including those with children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN).
• The Maternal and Child Health Bureau administers the Title V program, the primary governmental program entrusted with ensuring the health and well-being of the entire population of women, infants, and children.
• Martha May Eliot M.D.(1891-1978) is considered the mother of the Maternal and Child Health field. She graduated from Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1918, and went on to hold a variety of highly influential national and international public service positions.
• Grace Abbott is among the greatest champions of children’s rights in US   She stated: “Justice for all children is the high ideal in a democracy.”