ImprovIng the nutrItIonal Well-beIng of Women, ChIldren and famIlIes
                                                           8
         History of Nutrition in MCH
         nutrition has long been an important component of public health. the following information from the mCh timeline 
         provides a brief review of key milestones for public health nutrition.
         1922                                          1944 
         the sheppard-towner act of 1922               marjorie heseltine, first nutritionist        the states under title v. today the 
         provided funds that states could              with the Children’s bureau, called the        program invests in graduate level 
         use to improve children’s health and          initial conference of state nutrition         leadership training programs across 
         reduce the rate of infant mortality.          directors. subsequent meetings were           the u.s. in areas including nutrition.  
         the first mCh training program                held in conjunction with the american         1953
         provided specialized training. In             dietetic association and the 
         1943 public health nutrition                  american public health association.           the first official meeting of the 
         programs were established.                    1946                                          association of state and territorial 
         1935                                                                                        public health nutrition directors 
                                                       Congress passed the national school           (astphnd). astphnd provides 
                                                       lunch act to secure the well-being            state and national leadership on food 
                                                       and health of children as well as to          and nutrition policy, programs, and 
                                                       encourage consumption of local                services.  
                                                       food. the act established multi-year          1963
                                                       authority for the financing of school 
                                                       food programs. It now permanently 
                                                       authorizes the national school lunch 
                                                       program and the Child and adult 
                                                       Care food program. 
         title v of the social security act is 
         the longest-standing public health 
         legislation in american history and 
         continues to work to improve the 
         health of women and children. title                                                          
         v provided programs for maternity,                                                          maternity & Infant Care (mIC) 
         infant, and child care, as well as a                                                        projects addressed the prevention of 
         full range of medical services for                                                          mental retardation and the reduction 
         children. the act allocated funds to                                                        of infant mortality in low income 
         states to pay for maternal and Child                                                        families. these mIC projects took 
         health and Crippled Children services                                                       a multidisciplinary approach that 
         provided by nutritionists.                    1947                                          included nutritionists to increase 
         1940                                          the first federally funded long-              access to prenatal care to prevent 
                                                       term mCh training programs at                 infant mortality. 
         the White house Conference on                 universities were established. these 
         Children in a democracy addressed             departments’ primary goal was to 
         malnutrition and the elimination of           train administrators with a public 
         discrimination on the basis of race or        health and child/family focus for the 
         creed. one result was a proposal for a        new programs being developed in 
         national program on maternity care. 
                                                 Association of State & Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors
           ImprovIng the nutrItIonal Well-beIng of Women, ChIldren and famIlIes
           1964
           the food stamp program (fsp)                        program, food labeling and 
           was established nationwide to                       the establishment of the food 
           improve the nutrition of low-income                 and nutrition service in order 
           individuals and families. Qualified                 to administer the federal food 
           recipients received federal assistance              assistance programs.
           (food stamps) on a term-by-term                     1972
           basis to purchase foods at fsp 
           participating stores.                               the special supplemental food 
                                                               program for WIC was created as 
                                                               an amendment to the Children’s 
                                                               nutrition act of 1966. through its 
                                                               efforts, WIC has been consistently                  2009
                                                               associated with health improvements 
                                                               and reduced rates of low birth                      the american recovery and 
                                                               weight, infant mortality, and anemia.               reinvestment act of 2009 
                                                                                                                   designated about $142 billion  
                                                                                                                   for children, including funding  
                                                                                                                   for school modernization,  
           1965                                                                                                    head start, foster care and  
           Children & Youth projects resulted                                                                      adoption assistance, the Child 
           from amendments to title v of                                                                           tax Credit, and the supplemental 
           the social security act. the intent                                                                     nutrition assistance program. 
           of these projects was to provide                                                                        2009
           comprehensive health care including                                                                     the association of state and 
           nutrition to children and youth.                                                                        territorial public health nutrition 
           1966                                                2002                                                directors launched the maternal 
           the Child nutrition act intent was to               the farm security and rural                         and Child health nutrition Council.  
           ensure that children were provided                  Investment act of 2002 authorized                   the mCh nutrition Council provides 
           with adequate food in order to                      the fresh fruit and vegetable pilot                 leadership to achieve optimal well-
           promote better development and                      in four states and one Indian tribal                being through healthy eating and 
           learning.                                           organization. the program is now                    active living among the maternal  
                                                               available nationally to determine                   and child health population,  
           1969                                                the best practices for increasing                   including those served by  
           the White house Conference on                       fruit and fresh vegetable                           title v/mCh block grant.
           food, nutrition, and health brought                 consumption in schools. 
           to the forefront the importance of 
           nutrition in maintaining a healthy                                                                                                    member of ASTPHND 
                                                               8 
           nation to the forefront. many                        ushhs, hrsa, mChb. mCh history timeline. 
           landmark policies were developed                    retrieved september 2010 at  
                                                               http://mchb.hrsa.gov/timeline. 
           from this conference, including                     photos courtesy of the usda and school milk 
           further development of the food                     photo Collections, Child nutrition archives, 
                                                               national food service management Institute, 
           stamp program, the school lunch                     the university of mississippi
                                                                
                                                       Association of State & Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors
                             Supported in part by the Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau (contract #HHSH250200900023C)