Religion
In reply to the discussion: Tuam mother and baby home: the trouble with the septic tank story [View all]struggle4progress
(126,703 posts)in Europe, with tuberculosis rife ..."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/04/claim-of-800-childrens-bodies-buried-at-irish-home-for-unwed-mothers
The decline of infant and maternal mortality represents one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. From 1900 through 2000, infant mortality in the United States declined dramatically from estimated 10,00015,000 deaths to 690 deaths per 100,000 births; similarly, maternal mortality declined from an estimated 600900 deaths to under ten deaths per 100,000 births ...
http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof
so/9780195150698.001.0001/acprof-9780195150698-chapter-06
... The infant mortality rate started a long slide from 165 per 1,000 in 1900 to 7 per 1,000 in 1997. The health of older children also improved. Diseases that had carried off thousands of children in 1900 were practically eliminated by 2000: diphtheria, and pertussis, measles ...
http://www.pbs.org/fmc/timeline/dmortality.htm

Irish urban and rural infant mortality rates 1930-1961