Ada Estelle Schweitzer information

Ada Estelle Schweitzer (August 29, 1872 – July 2, 1951)^[1] was an American public health advocate for women and infants in Indiana, an expert in infant health care, and a pioneer in public health in the early twentieth century. As the director of the Indiana State Board of Health's Division of Child and Infant Hygiene from 1919 to 1933, Schweitzer is best known for organizing and supervising Indiana's Better Baby contests at the Indiana State Fair from 1920 to 1932. Schweitzer's and her staff's educational outreach activities also helped change attitudes about child and maternal health. Statistics confirm that the state's infant mortality rate decreased during her years as a public health leader in Indiana to the fourth lowest in the United States, an accomplishment that was partly attributed to the efforts of her division. In addition to her work for Indiana's State Board of Health, Schweitzer was the author of numerous articles on children's health and was elected as president of the American Association of Women in Public Health in 1928.

Schweitzer's public health advocacy was controversial due to her support of eugenics. The Progressive Era reformer supported Indiana's eugenic marriage and sterilization laws, which were ruled unconstitutional, while she promoted and encouraged efforts to improve maternal, prenatal, and pediatric care across Indiana. Although the Better Baby contests that Schweitzer supervised were credited with educating the public about raising healthier children and helping to lower infant mortality, the contest's exclusionary practices reinforced social class and racial discrimination because they were limited to white infants. African American and immigrant children were barred from the competitions.