PREFACE
The Health Resources and Services Administration's
Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) is pleased
to present Child Health USA 2002, the thirteenth
annual report on the health status and service needs
of America's children. To assess the Bureau's progress
toward achieving its vision for a nation where all
individuals enjoy equal access to quality health care
in a supportive, culturally competent, family and
community setting, MCHB has compiled this book of
secondary data for 59 health status indicators. It
provides both graphical and textual summaries of data
and addresses long-term trends where applicable.
Data are presented for the target populations of
Title V funding: infants, children, adolescents, children
with special health care needs, and women of childbearing
age. In addition to population characteristics, this
book also addresses health status and health services
utilization. Child Health USA 2002 also provides
insight into the nation's progress toward the goals
set out in the MCHB's strategic plan—to eliminate
barriers and health disparities, to assure quality
of care, and to improve the health infrastructure
and system.
Child Health USA is published to provide the
most current data available for public health professionals
and other individuals in the private and public sectors.
The book's succinct format is intended to facilitate
the use of the information as a snapshot of measures
of children's health in the United States.
The first section, Population Characteristics, presents
statistics on factors that influence the well-being
of children. The second section, entitled Health Status,
contains vital statistics and health behavior information
for infants, children, adolescents, and women of childbearing
age. The third section, Health Services Utilization,
contains data regarding health care financing and
newly implemented health policies. The fourth and
fifth sections contain information on selected indicators
at the state and city levels.
Please note that Child Health USA 2002 is
not copyrighted. Readers are free to duplicate and
use all or part of the information contained in this
publication. The book is available online at http://www.mchb.hrsa.gov.
Single copies of this publication are also available
at no cost from the HRSA Information Center, 2070
Chain Bridge Road, Suite 450, Vienna, VA 22182-2536,
telephone: (703) 442-9051 or (888) ASK-HRSA.
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