JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
-
As the public health impact of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in women and children has increased, so has interest in screening pregnant women and newborns for evidence of HIV infection. However, screening of pregnant women and newborns raises profound moral, legal, and policy issues. In this article, we present and defend a detailed 10-point program of policy recommendations for both pregnant women and newborns. We advocate informing all pregnant women and new mothers about the HIV epidemic and the availability of testing.
-
Using standardized mortality ratios, this study compares the sex- and race-specific, age-adjusted death rates for all US Army soldiers with those for the entire US population. Results show that soldiers are currently dying at a rate that is only half that of their civilian counterparts. The most striking difference in death rates by cause is a markedly lower homicide death rate for Army black men; homicides among the civilian black male population are 12 times more frequent than in the Army. Some factors that might account for these lower mortality rates in the Army are discussed.