On the Issue of the Protection of Motherhood and Childhood in the First Decades of Soviet Power (Based on the Materials of the State Archive of the Kursk Region)

Abstract

The relevance of the presented article is due to the processes of implementing the Concept of state family Policy in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025 and the formation of a set of measures to support a mother woman. Holistic support of motherhood and childhood in modern Russia would be impossible without a study of the history of maternal and child protection of the Soviet period.The purpose of the article is to study the activities carried out by healthcare institutions in Kursk in the 1920s and 1930s in the field of maternity and infancy protection.Objectives: to determine the degree of protection of motherhood and infancy by the beginning of the study period, to characterize the activities of the Soviet government to organize a network of maternity hospitals, to study the process of creating and developing nurseries in Kursk.Methodology. The methods of objectivity, scientific, historicism were used in the work. In addition, historicalcomparative and chronological approaches were used.Results. The negative consequences of wars and revolutions have nullified the results of activities for the protection of motherhood and childhood of the Zemstvo period. The Soviet government aimed to improve the demographic situation. To this end, the fight against child mortality, support for women during pregnancy and childbirth, the organization of women's and children's consultations, maternity homes and departments were organized.Conclusions. During the period under review, the system of maternity and childhood protection was being established. The state has sent significant funds to this area, provided it with personnel, which made it possible to improve the demographic situation in the region and in Russia as a whole in a short time.