City, urban, rural, or suburban areas which are characterized by severe economic deprivation and by accompanying physical and social decay.

Social and economic factors that characterize the individual or group within the social structure.

Revenues or receipts accruing from business enterprise, labor, or invested capital.

Elements of residence that characterize a population. They are applicable in determining need for and utilization of health services.

Size and composition of the family.

Variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between population groups defined by socioeconomic characteristics such as age, ethnicity, economic resources, or gender and populations identified geographically or similar measures.

Organized efforts by communities or organizations to improve the health and well-being of the child.

A stratum of people with similar position and prestige; includes social stratification. Social class is measured by criteria such as education, occupation, and income.

Enumerations of populations usually recording identities of all persons in every place of residence with age or date of birth, sex, occupation, national origin, language, marital status, income, relation to head of household, information on the dwelling place, education, literacy, health-related data (e.g., permanent disability), etc. The census or "numbering of the people" is mentioned several times in the Old Testament. Among the Romans, censuses were intimately connected with the enumeration of troops before and after battle and probably a military necessity. (From Last, A Dictionary of Epidemiology, 3d ed; Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th ed, p66, p119)

The degree to which individuals are inhibited or facilitated in their ability to gain entry to and to receive care and services from the health care system. Factors influencing this ability include geographic, architectural, transportational, and financial considerations, among others.

The inhabitants of a city or town, including metropolitan areas and suburban areas.

Groups of persons whose range of options is severely limited, who are frequently subjected to COERCION in their DECISION MAKING, or who may be compromised in their ability to give INFORMED CONSENT.

Financial assistance to impoverished persons for the essentials of living through federal, state or local government programs.

The production and movement of food items from point of origin to use or consumption.

Countries in the process of change with economic growth, that is, an increase in production, per capita consumption, and income. The process of economic growth involves better utilization of natural and human resources, which results in a change in the social, political, and economic structures.

The inhabitants of rural areas or of small towns classified as rural.

Persons living in the United States having origins in any of the black groups of Africa.

Organized institutions which provide services to ameliorate conditions of need or social pathology in the community.

The state of society as it exists or in flux. While it usually refers to society as a whole in a specified geographical or political region, it is applicable also to restricted strata of a society.

An interactive process whereby members of a community are concerned for the equality and rights of all.

The science of utilization, distribution, and consumption of services and materials.

The status of health in urban populations.

Diseases that are underfunded and have low name recognition but are major burdens in less developed countries. The World Health Organization has designated six tropical infectious diseases as being neglected in industrialized countries that are endemic in many developing countries (HELMINTHIASIS; LEPROSY; LYMPHATIC FILARIASIS; ONCHOCERCIASIS; SCHISTOSOMIASIS; and TRACHOMA).

A systematic collection of factual data pertaining to health and disease in a human population within a given geographic area.

The level of health of the individual, group, or population as subjectively assessed by the individual or by more objective measures.

Differences in access to or availability of medical facilities and services.

Individuals whose ancestral origins are in the continent of Europe.

Payment by individuals or their family for health care services which are not covered by a third-party payer, either insurance or medical assistance.

An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, or inborn or inherited characteristic, which, on the basis of epidemiologic evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.

Educational attainment or level of education of individuals.

An international organization whose members include most of the sovereign nations of the world with headquarters in New York City. The primary objectives of the organization are to maintain peace and security and to achieve international cooperation in solving international economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian problems.

A course or method of action selected, usually by a government, from among alternatives to guide and determine present and future decisions.

An acute or prolonged illness usually considered to be life-threatening or with the threat of serious residual disability. Treatment may be radical and is frequently costly.

A method of analyzing the variation in utilization of health care in small geographic or demographic areas. It often studies, for example, the usage rates for a given service or procedure in several small areas, documenting the variation among the areas. By comparing high- and low-use areas, the analysis attempts to determine whether there is a pattern to such use and to identify variables that are associated with and contribute to the variation.

Persons living in the United States of Mexican (MEXICAN AMERICANS), Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin. The concept does not include Brazilian Americans or Portuguese Americans.

Groups of individuals whose putative ancestry is from native continental populations based on similarities in physical appearance.

The aggregate of social and cultural institutions, forms, patterns, and processes that influence the life of an individual or community.

A voluntary contract between two or more dentists who may or may not share responsibility for the care of patients, with proportional sharing of profits and losses.

The amounts spent by individuals, groups, nations, or private or public organizations for total health care and/or its various components. These amounts may or may not be equivalent to the actual costs (HEALTH CARE COSTS) and may or may not be shared among the patient, insurers, and/or employers.

A group of people with a common cultural heritage that sets them apart from others in a variety of social relationships.

Living facilities for humans.

The total number of cases of a given disease in a specified population at a designated time. It is differentiated from INCIDENCE, which refers to the number of new cases in the population at a given time.

A social science dealing with group relationships, patterns of collective behavior, and social organization.

Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time.

Individuals or groups with no or inadequate health insurance coverage. Those falling into this category usually comprise three primary groups: the medically indigent (MEDICAL INDIGENCY); those whose clinical condition makes them medically uninsurable; and the working uninsured.

A severe gangrenous process occurring predominantly in debilitated and malnourished children, especially in underdeveloped countries. It typically begins as a small vesicle or ulcer on the gingiva that rapidly becomes necrotic and spreads to produce extensive destruction of the buccal and labial mucosa and tissues of the face, which may result in severe disfigurement and even death. Various bacteria have been implicated in the etiology. (Dorland, 27th ed)

All of Africa except Northern Africa (AFRICA, NORTHERN).

The study of the social determinants and social effects of health and disease, and of the social structure of medical institutions or professions.

The legal relation between an entity (individual, group, corporation, or-profit, secular, government) and an object. The object may be corporeal, such as equipment, or completely a creature of law, such as a patent; it may be movable, such as an animal, or immovable, such as a building.

An infant during the first month after birth.

The status of health in rural populations.

Statistical models which describe the relationship between a qualitative dependent variable (that is, one which can take only certain discrete values, such as the presence or absence of a disease) and an independent variable. A common application is in epidemiology for estimating an individual's risk (probability of a disease) as a function of a given risk factor.

The absence of certain expected and acceptable cultural phenomena in the environment which results in the failure of the individual to communicate and respond in the most appropriate manner within the context of society. Language acquisition and language use are commonly used in assessing this concept.

The Christian faith, practice, or system of the Catholic Church, specifically the Roman Catholic, the Christian church that is characterized by a hierarchic structure of bishops and priests in which doctrinal and disciplinary authority are dependent upon apostolic succession, with the pope as head of the episcopal college. (From Webster, 3d ed; American Heritage Dictionary, 2d college ed)

The measurement of the health status for a given population using a variety of indices, including morbidity, mortality, and available health resources.

The science, art or practice of cultivating soil, producing crops, and raising livestock.

Insurance providing coverage of medical, surgical, or hospital care in general or for which there is no specific heading.

Continuous sequential changes which occur in the physiological and psychological functions during the life-time of an individual.

Statistical interpretation and description of a population with reference to distribution, composition, or structure.

The science dealing with the earth and its life, especially the description of land, sea, and air and the distribution of plant and animal life, including humanity and human industries with reference to the mutual relations of these elements. (From Webster, 3d ed)

Decisions, usually developed by government policymakers, for determining present and future objectives pertaining to the health care system.

Situations affecting a significant number of people, that are believed to be sources of difficulty or threaten the stability of the community, and that require programs of amelioration.

The protection, preservation, restoration, and rational use of all resources in the total environment.

The state of being engaged in an activity or service for wages or salary.

Conversations with an individual or individuals held in order to obtain information about their background and other personal biographical data, their attitudes and opinions, etc. It includes school admission or job interviews.

The state of not being engaged in a gainful occupation.

A republic in eastern Africa, south of ETHIOPIA, west of SOMALIA with TANZANIA to its south, and coastline on the Indian Ocean. Its capital is Nairobi.

Planning that has the goals of improving health, improving accessibility to health services, and promoting efficiency in the provision of services and resources on a comprehensive basis for a whole community. (From Facts on File Dictionary of Health Care Management, 1988, p299)

Studies in which variables relating to an individual or group of individuals are assessed over a period of time.

Female parents, human or animal.

Acquisition of knowledge as a result of instruction in a formal course of study.

Biological adaptation, such as the rise of EPINEPHRINE in response to exercise, stress or perceived danger, followed by a fall of epinephrine during RELAXATION. Allostasis is the achievement of stability by turning on and turning off the allostatic systems including the IMMUNE SYSTEM; the AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM and NEUROENDOCRINE SYSTEMS.

Individuals whose ancestral origins are in the continent of Africa.

An imbalanced nutritional status resulted from insufficient intake of nutrients to meet normal physiological requirement.

Organized services to provide health care for children.

Healthy People Programs are a set of health objectives to be used by governments, communities, professional organizations, and others to help develop programs to improve health. It builds on initiatives pursued over the past two decades beginning with the 1979 Surgeon General's Report, Healthy People, Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives, and Healthy People 2010. These established national health objectives and served as the basis for the development of state and community plans. These are administered by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP). Similar programs are conducted by other national governments.