Forging%20new%20connections%20between%20health%20and%20community%20development

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Special Focus: Health and Community Development

Making Up for Lost Time: Forging New Connections between Health and Community Development By David Fleming, Hilary Karasz, and Kirsten Wysen,

Public Health—Seattle & King County

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.” —Chinese proverb

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n 1915, on the lower east side of New York, dilapidated tenements were packed with the nation’s poorest people and our newest immigrants. Poor air, water, and food were the rule rather than the exception. Tuberculosis, pneumonia and diarrhea were rampant, and early death was common. That year, under the headline of “Poverty Kills 300,000 Babies Yearly,” The New York Times reported: “Babies whose fathers earned less than $10 a week died at the appalling rate of 256 per 1,000. On the

Community Investments, Winter 2010/11 – Volume 22, Issue 3

other hand, those whose fathers earned $25 a week or more—who had what might be called an ample income— died at the extremely low rate of 84 per 1,000.”1 A century ago, the link between poverty and poor health was both recognized and operating in full force. Today, health and economic status remain as intimately intertwined as they were 100 years ago. Across the globe, countries with the lowest GDP also have the highest mortality rates. Here in the United States, the infant death rate

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