Skip navigation
Timeline / Citizenship, Services, and Sovereignty / 1926: Funding to improve newborn survival reaches Hawai‘i

1926: Funding to improve newborn survival reaches Hawai‘i

The U.S. Congress expands the 1921 Maternity and Infancy Act to include the Territory of Hawai‘i. The federal government provides matching funds to programs across the U.S. to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates. Hawai‘i’s territorial government founds the Bureau of Maternal and Infant Hygiene and allocates dollars in order to qualify for federal support.

In 1896, Queen Kapi‘olani of Hawai‘i opened the Kapi‘olani Maternity Home in Honolulu, to promote the health of mothers and babies. She raised the money for the home by holding fundraising luaus.

Theme
Federal-Tribal Relations
Region
Hawai‘i

Health care center run by the Hawai‘i Bureau of Maternal and Infant Hygiene, ca. 1930

Courtesy Hawai‘i State Archives