PUBH 6005 Module 2 Assignment

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Walden University *

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6005

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Medicine

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Apr 3, 2024

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Public Health Agents of Change: Jocelyn Elders and Margaret Sanger Jazzmyne Willingham Walden University July 2 nd 2023

Public Health Agents of Change 2 Beginnings of Dr Jocelyn Elders Dr Joycelyn Elders was a medical doctor and professor who was born in Arkansas in 1933. Dr Elders joined the army and was trained in Texas (The History Makers, 2017). She received her bachelor's in biology and then continued to become a medical doctor. She also earned a masters in biochemistry in 1967. After completing residency, she was hired as an assistant professor with the University of Arkansas and then promoted to professor five years later. Later, in 1978 Dr Elders earned her certification to become a pediatric endocrinologist (The History Makers, 2017). Governor Bill Clinton appointed Dr. Elders as director of Arkansas Department of Public Health in 1987. She then went on to become the 15th Surgeon General of the United States under President Clinton in 1993 (The History Makers, 2017). Dr Joycelyn Elders was the first African American elected to this position. Joycelyn wanted to improve the lives of children and she was passionate about woman's reproductive health and education within school, particularly on the topics of sex, drugs. tobacco and alcohol. Later the following year she resigned from her position and returned to teaching at the University of Arkansas as a professor of pediatric endocrinology (The History Makers, 2017). She spent time working in other countries doing humanitarian work in Africa. She promoted sex education and helped treat children and students who contracted malaria. Accomplishments of Dr Joycelyn Elders Dr Elders was a prolific researcher, publishing over 100 academic papers in relation to insulin resistance and numerous other endocrine disorders and diseases (The History Makers, 2017). She worked with a lot of sexual behavior and advocacy for adolescents. Her research inspired her to help young women who were burdened with diabetes and the health risks associated with the disease. She investigated congenital abnormalities and other health risks that pregnant young women faced due to their diabetes. Dr Elders also helped patients learn to control their diabetes and learn more about fertility and starting a family safely. Her work didn't stop there. She was able to help mandate curriculums that were incorporated in US schools such as substance abuse prevention and sex education. She was able to

Public Health Agents of Change 3 increase the rate of immunizations and help expand prenatal and home care programs for chronic disease patients (The History Makers, 2017). Challenges of Dr Joycelyn Elders During her short time in the office, Dr Elders faced a lot of pushbacks due to addressing controversial issues. Her policies were seen as progressive, and a lot of people opposed them. It was important to Dr Elders to talk about these issues and address them so that people could find solutions and hear about problems the country was facing. According to Dr Elders, her greatest obstacles were “poverty racism and sexism” (The History Makers, 2017). Being the first African American and her role and only the second female to take her position must have been difficult. Even still, Dr Joycelyn Elders made a long-lasting impact on public health care in the United States. Beginnings of Margaret Sanger Margaret Sanger was born in 1879. She is the founder of the term birth control and a leader in the movement in the United States and internationally (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2022). She was a teacher but later decided to be an obstetric nurse in New York City. Throughout this time working in New York City she was able to witness a lot of poverty. Unfortunately, she was able to observe a relationship between poverty and fertility and mortality. She witnessed deaths from illegal abortions, high rates of infant mortality, and uncontrolled fertility amongst people with lower incomes. These issues inspired her to advocate for women's rights to decisions about their body and learning how to avoid unwanted pregnancies (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2022). Her career was devoted to removing laws that prevented women to make decisions about their body and also increasing education for the public surrounding contraception. Accomplishments and Adversities of Margaret Sanger Now over 100 years ago singer worked so diligently to improve birth control and sex education and she even published a book titled “ What Every Girl Should Know ” which addressed some of the issues women would face and helped advocate for birth control (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2023). During this

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Public Health Agents of Change 4 time, she was indicted for the mailing out these pamphlets or booklets that were advocating birth control but 2 years later the charges were dropped. In 1916 the same year her charges were dropped, she opened a clinic in Brooklyn that was geared towards birth control (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2023). She was arrested on the count of public nuisance and served 30 days in a penitentiary in Queens because of these charges. During her time of incarceration, she published first issue of her periodical journal called “The Birth Control Review” (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2023). Critics only fueled the fire and helped her gain more traction for public attention regarding these issues. Because of her birth control movement in 1936 physicians were granted the right to give advice about birth control methods and they were able to prescribe contraceptives to people. She also founded American birth control league which later turned into Planned Parenthood federation of America (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2023). She also helped organize the first world population conference in Geneva and was the first president of the international Planned Parenthood federation which took place in 1927. In addition to all of this she also took her birth control campaigns to other countries (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2023). Impacts of Margaret Sanger’s work Margaret Sanger was able to do some amazing things although she faced backlash which eventually got her incarcerated, she didn't let that stop her (Mundt, 2017). In fact, she let it fuel the fire inside her and was able to make a lot of progress while in the penitentiary (Britannica,2023). She is a pioneer on many counts, and I would predict that her advocacy work has affected nearly every woman in America at this point. It is truly amazing to see how much someone could accomplish over 100 years ago when technology and communication were limited. It would be interesting to see what they thought about the politics related to woman's rights and reproductive health and all of the events that are occurring in today's day and age. Challenges of their work

Public Health Agents of Change 5 Both Dr Elders and Margaret Sanger faced numerous challenges over their careers. Both women were extremely bold and made significant contributions to public health. Additionally, they are both alive during very different times. As a highly educated person of color, Dr Elders faced a lot of discrimination and racism just by being herself. She didn't have to do anything particularly bold to have critics against her. Regardless of racial differences and even political differences she was willing to address pertinent issues within the United States. She faced a lot of disagreement especially with the conservative parties and regarding sex education. It was extremely bold and brave of her to be willing to have these difficult conversations even if it made people uncomfortable because ultimately some of these changes that she implemented still exist today. Unfortunately, the topics of sex education, maternal health, and vaccinations are all topics that are still argued upon to this day. Margaret Sanger may have not witnessed or experienced racism since she was a white female, but she was alive at a time where women didn't even have the same rights as men. For this reason, she probably experienced a lot of discrimination for being a woman just like Dr Elders did. Unlike Dr Elders, Margaret Sanger faced incarceration and a lot more legal implications for her advocacy work. She didn't let that stop her, but it was a main struggle that she consistently faced. She was innovative and used numerous different ways to try to reach an audience including journals, pamphlets through the mail and then eventually initiatives through the health system. Impacts and Importance Both women had an extremely important role to play in society and overall, it is very impressive the impacts that they have made even to this day. Dr Elders not only set the bar for African American women to become surgeon generals in the United States, but she helped advocate for people with diabetes and people in poverty. She made a long-lasting change, and the way diabetic patient's health is managed, and she also helped create a relationship between fertility and diabetes and managing the two when trying to start a family. In addition to that, Dr Elders worked diligently to implement sex education which is still

Public Health Agents of Change 6 present in school systems across the country today. Additionally, many children and adults have grown up with some form of education against drugs and alcohol use within the school system. These are all important topics to address when it comes to population health and community health. Margaret Sanger made an everlasting impression on United States healthcare and women's reproductive health. She was a pioneer on numerous different fronts of women’s health care and reproductive rights. Now today most people know about birth control and their options were involving birth control. There are numerous forms of birth control and Planned Parenthood is present nationwide. It is important that we rely on research to understand why these things are put in place and why organizations such as Planned Parenthood are important. Since the overturning of Roe versus wade maternal mortality rates have increased and I think this is exactly what Margaret Sanger was trying to prevent back in the 1800s (DeClercq, 2022). Personal Reflections It was interesting to learn about both of these amazing women. I honestly had not heard of either one of them before this assignment. I am extremely involved in advocacy work pertaining to reproductive rights, so this was fun to learn about. Being a person of color who grew up in poverty, I also appreciate the work that Dr Elders has done. I'm currently in medical school right now and plan to use my education to advocate for mental health and reproductive health and other injustices in the public health system. Although I may not make an impact as big as either of these women, I think it is incredible to know that they have kind of paved the way for women like me. Both women’s work has impacted me directly. I had sex education in school growing up. I have also personally utilized Planned Parenthood 's resources to obtain birth control for myself and I have also driven friends and family to Planned Parenthood so that they can receive birth control. I think Margaret Sanger would be proud to see what Planned Parenthood has become and how many resources are available these days. Not only is it for maternal health but it is for sexual education contraception and just reproductive health in general for all people which is important.

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Public Health Agents of Change 7 References DeClercq E. et al., How New State Abortion Bans and Restrictions Could Worsen Access to Maternal Care and Health Outcomes Commonwealth Fund . (Dec. 2022). https://doi.org/10.26099/z7dz-8211 Dr. Joycelyn Elders’s biography. The HistoryMakers. (2017, September 20). https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/dr-joycelyn-elders Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2023, May 4). Margaret Sanger . Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Margaret-Sanger Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Joycelyn elders . Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joycelyn-Elders Mundt, I. (2017). Margaret Sanger, Taking a Stand for Birth Control. History Teacher , 51 (1), 123–161. Wisdom Watch: Dr. Joycelyn Elders. (2007). Tell Me More .

PUBH 6005 Module 2 Assignment

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