Search Results: MCHLine

Annotation: This online tool presents an overview of the "100 Weeks Project" by United States of Care, an initiative dedicated to addressing maternal health, particularly postpartum care, with a goal of ensuring women have comprehensive benefits for a full year after pregnancy by 2030. It maps the entire maternal journey—preconception, pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum—focusing on the disproportionate challenges faced by Black women, who are significantly more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes. The resource highlights pain points within the healthcare system, such as fragmented coverage, racial bias, and a lack of support for mental health and breastfeeding, alongside "bright spots" like community organizations and culturally-concordant care. State-level data illustrates disparities in access to perinatal health workers, postpartum depression screening rates, and insurance coverage for essential services like doula and lactation consultation. Ultimately, the project uses firsthand narratives and clinical data to advocate for systemic change and improved support throughout the critical 100-week period.

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Keywords: Access to care, Barriers, Blacks, Healthcare disparities, Maternal health, Preconception care, Pregnancy, Prenatal care: Postpartum care

Annotation: [Funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau]

Keywords: Blacks, Children, Hemoglobinopathies, Screening

Annotation: This project aimed to reduce postneonatal mortality rates associated with inadequate parenting skills and poor utilization of prenatal and child health care services. Activities included establishment of a resource mothers program in which church women were trained to assist pregnant women in negotiating the health care and social services systems, and implementation of a teen peer counselor program. The project also established self-sustaining local coalitions to monitor and address problems that contribute to poor pregnancy outcomes. [Funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau]

Keywords: Access to Health Care, Adolescents, Blacks, Clergy, Community-Based Health Services, High risk groups, High risk pregnancy, Infant Mortality, Low income groups, Postneonatal Mortality, Pregnant Women, Prenatal Care, Religious organizations, Rural Populations

Annotation: The purpose of this project was to develop and demonstrate effective intervention strategies for the 10–15 year age group that can be carried out within a school-based comprehensive health care system to reduce the occurrence of premature and unprotected sexual intercourse in adolescents. More than 300 10-year-old children and their parents enrolled to receive annual health maintenance evaluations and a series of activities to enhance parent-child communication, parental knowledge of adolescent social and sexual development, and problem-solving and decision-making skills. [Funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau]

Keywords: Adolescents, Blacks, Decision Making Skills, Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children, Hispanics, Minority Groups, Parent Child Interaction, Parent Child Relationship, Preventive Health Care Education, School Dropouts, School Health Programs, School Health Services, Sexual Activity, Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Annotation: This public awareness campaign provides information and resources for health professionals, families, and other caregivers on how to put infants to sleep safely to reduce the risk of sudden unexpected infant death (including deaths attributed to overlaying, accidental suffocation, wedging, and sudden infant death syndrome). Contents include a tip sheet, brochure, and poster in English and Spanish. Additional resources include a sample safe sleep policy for child care facilities; a safe sleep quiz for parents and other caregivers; a bookmark with tips on comforting a crying infant; and a flyer, poster, insert, and billboard about suffocation.

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Keywords: Blacks, Campaigns, Crying, Infant death, Local initiatives, Primary prevention, SIDS, Safety, Sleep position, Spanish language materials, Suffocation, Unintentional injuries

Annotation: This perinatal mental health screening protocol and briefing guide is designed to provide a culturally responsive framework for screening Black birthing persons. The protocol aims to address the urgent need for improved screening and quality care for this population, which is at higher risk for perinatal depression and anxiety. Informed by focus groups with Black birthing people, Black birth workers, perinatal service providers, and a literature review, the guide outlines five key steps for conducting screenings: fostering an atmosphere of trust and safety, starting a conversation, providing choice and transparency, discussing results with patients, and making referrals with follow-through. The briefing includes considerations for providers before screening, such as assessing biases, serving with cultural humility, understanding community fears and stigma, and recognizing common phrases used to indicate anxiety or depression. The protocol also provides guidance on establishing an organizational screening process and building culturally responsive referral partnerships.

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Keywords: Blacks, Child birth, Culutral sensitivity, Mental health, Ohio, Perinatal care, Protocol, Quality improvement, Screening, State initiatives

Annotation: This report highlights the common threads between housing and reproductive justice, emphasizing the importance of policy solutions that de-silo maternal health and address social and structural barriers. The first section describes how structural racism and structural disinvestment—including residential segregation, poor housing access and conditions, residential instability and gentrification, and the carceral apparatus—contribute to deleterious health outcomes among Black women and birthing people. The second section outlines how Black pregnancy is policed across the reproductive lifespan through forced evictions and displacement during pregnancy, double jeopardy of racism and discrimination in health care settings, and threatened Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement after birth. The third section highlights the status of housing reform in Washington, D.C. and potential opportunities for change. The report ends with Mamatoto Village’s housing justice framework, a summary of federal housing programs and policies, and links to annotated bibliography of key articles.

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Keywords: Barriers, Blacks, Civil rights, Federal programs , Housing, Housing programs, Maternal health, Policy development, Pregnancy, Racism, Social factors, Underserved communities

Annotation: During Black Maternal Health Week, podcast host Christie Allen welcomes two distinguished guests: Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, co-chair of the Black Maternal Health Caucus, and Carole Johnson, Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Together, they discuss the groundbreaking Enhancing Maternal Health Initiative, the Momnibus legislation, and the urgent need for comprehensive support for maternal health across the United States. This episode is part of the AIM for Better Birth series of podcasts that dive deeper into the rising severe maternal morbidity and maternal mortality rates in the United States through a data-driven, quality improvement lens.

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Keywords: Advocacy, Blacks, Health care disparities, Health equity, Legislation, Maternal health, Maternal mortality, Policy development

Annotation: This thesis presents a research study examining birthing people's experiences with the health care system during prenatal, intrapartum, and postpartum periods. The study used patient journey mapping, surveys, and interviews to capture experiences at multiple time points. Participants included six prenatal and four postpartum patients, with a focus on Black birthing people. Key findings revealed challenges with insurance access, getting questions answered between appointments, and a lack of racial concordance with health care workers. Participants also reported feeling unprepared for unexpected events, accepting care that did not align with their needs, and inconsistent mental health and intimate partner violence screenings. The thesis discusses implications for improving maternal care, such as offering low-cost services, implementing telehealth, ensuring universal screenings, and increasing workforce diversity.

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Keywords: Access to care, Barriers, Blacks, Childbirth, Health care systems, Interviews, Perinatal care, Postpartum care, Pregnant women, Prenatal care, Surveys, Toronto Canada

Annotation: This blog post details policy and programmatic strategies states are implementing to strengthen the perinatal health care system, improve maternal health outcomes, and address disparities, particularly noting that Black women are 2.6 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than White women. Based on an analysis of states’ strategic plans, the key priorities for supporting pregnant and postpartum women include (1) ensuring access to timely and high-quality care, citing examples such as Iowa’s Obstetrics Mobile Simulation Training Program and North Carolina’s Region IV Provider Support Network; (2) developing and sustaining the perinatal workforce, citing examples such as Illinois DocAssist, a free statewide psychiatric access program, and New Jersey’s Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Center; and (3) supporting high-quality care coordination, citing examples such as California’s Enhanced Care Management Birth Equity Population of Focus under CalAIM and Texas’s High-Risk Maternal Care Coordination Services Program.

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Keywords: Access to care, Blacks, California, Healthcare disparities, Illinois, Iowa, Maternal health, New Jersey, North Carolina, Perinatal care, Policy, State initiatives, Strategic plans, Texas

Annotation: This issue brief provides analysis of racial and ethnic disparities across selected measures of maternal and infant health, discusses the factors that drive these disparities, and provides an overview of recent efforts to address them. Statistics from federal data sets are included.

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Keywords: Barriers, Access to health care, Alaska natives, Blacks, Data, Ethnic factors, Health equity, Native Americans, Racial factors, Statistical analysis

Annotation: This report describes the various socioeconomic factors and discriminatory practices that contribute to the disproportionate rate of housing evictions among black women. It discusses the health, economic, social, and financial consequences of home displacement and calls on states to respond to the eviction crisis by enacting policies that account for demographic disparities and decrease eviction filing, increase tenant protections and rights during the process, and keep families and individuals out of cycles of poverty and hardship.

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Keywords: Blacks, Discrimination, Homelessness, Housing, Public policy, Racism, Socioeconomic factors, Women

Annotation: This issue brief highlights the increased risk of maternal morbidity and mortality among Black women; explores the drivers that contribute to the Black maternal health crisis, and recommends strategies to transform the delivery of Black maternal health care to improve health outcomes. Providing culturally-centered care by diverse health teams; destigmatizing and treating Black maternal mental health; protect and expand access to reproductive health care; eliminating economic inequities; and collecting and using intersectional data are among the approaches highlighted. The brief also discusses the importance of community, describing how shared resistance, resilience, and joy help define Black maternal health.

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Keywords: Blacks, Health care disparities, Health equity, Maternal health, Maternal morbidity, Maternal mortality, Prevention

Annotation: This issue brief highlights Action 2.2 from the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, which focuses on strengthening community participation in Maternal Mortality Review Committees (MMRCs), particularly among communities of color. The document examines the critical role of MMRCs in reviewing pregnancy-related deaths and making recommendations to prevent future deaths, with special attention to the importance of including diverse community voices and lived experiences in these reviews. It provides detailed information about current MMRC implementation across states, highlights key challenges like limited rural representation and transparency issues, and outlines specific innovations being implemented by states like Arizona and Maryland to increase meaningful community engagement. The brief includes recommendations from the Black Mamas Matter Alliance for enhancing equity and community participation in MMRC processes.

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Keywords: Blacks, Community participation, Health care disparities, Health equity, Maternal health, Maternal mortality, Minority groups, Outreach, Prevention, State initiatives

Annotation: This brief describes the maternal health crisis in the United States, noting that the U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income nations, with more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths considered preventable. It explains how the crisis disproportionately affects people of color, particularly Black women who die at three to four times the rate of non-Hispanic White women from pregnancy-related complications. The document outlines key factors contributing to these disparities, including implicit and explicit racial bias, systemic bias, barriers for people with disabilities, limited access to healthcare facilities, lack of skilled providers, socioeconomic challenges, and domestic safety concerns. It presents the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, which identifies five goals and more than 50 action steps to improve maternal health, and introduces Evidence to Action Briefs developed by the Maternal Health Learning & Innovation Center to facilitate implementation. The brief includes detailed data visualizations depicting maternal mortality trends by race, ethnicity, geography, and causes of death, and features the ROOTT Framework that illustrates how structural and social determinants affect maternal health outcomes.

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Keywords: Barriers, Blacks, Data, Federal initiatives, Health care disparities, Health care systems, Maternal health, Maternal morbidity, Maternal mortality, Quality improvement, Service integration, Social determinants of health, Trends

Annotation: This article discusses the postpartum period as an opportunity for preventing maternal harm and death while improving health equity. It presents findings from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 90-day Innovation cycle identifying hospital interventions to improve postpartum care, particularly for Black women who experience 3.5 times higher maternal mortality rates than white women. The article outlines four key intervention areas: reducing variability in discharge education, offering implicit bias training, forming strategic partnerships, and promoting continuity of care across departments. The process map diagram visually represents the Innovation Team's research findings, highlighting current challenges and opportunities for improvement in postpartum care pathways. The article describes issues in discharge processes, post-birth warning signs, follow-up care models, and patient-centered design. It concludes with information about a Learning Community initiative with five birthing hospitals that began in January 2023, funded by Merck for Mothers.

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Keywords: Quality improvement, Blacks, Health care disparities, Maternal health, Maternal mortality, Models, Postpartum care, Prevention, Statistics

Annotation: This toolkit guides the development and implementation of community-based doula programming into clinical settings specifically to prevent maternal and infant mortality inequities in Black birthing families. The document describes the partnership Sistas Caring 4 Sistas, an established community-based doula program in Asheville, NC, and the UNC-affiliated Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), It presents a framework for collaboration between healthcare clinics and community-based doulas covering planning considerations, project work components including capacity building and clinical shift implementation, and policy change initiatives. The toolkit includes evaluation methods, lessons learned, and recommendations for getting started with such partnerships. It emphasizes the importance of organizational leadership support, mutual respect, and adequate administrative infrastructure for healthcare institutions seeking to partner with community-based doula organizations.

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Keywords: Blacks, Childbirth, Community coordination, Community health services, Doulas, Health inequities, Local initiatives, Program development

Annotation: This national campaign website presents information and resources about ways to reduce the risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related causes of infant death such as suffocation. Topics include answers to common questions about SIDS, the importance of sharing safe sleep messages with everyone who cares for infants under age 1, and crib-safety guidelines. Contents include a video; a general outreach brochure (in English and Spanish); brochures for outreach to African Americans, American Indians, and Alaska Natives; and a handout that illustrates a safe infant sleep environment. The website covers safe infant sleep basics,printable and shareable resources, research, and activities and initiatives.

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Keywords: Alaska Natives, American Indians, Blacks, Campaigns, Infant death, National initiatives, Primary prevention, SIDS, Safety, Sleep position, Spanish language materials, Unintentional injuries

Annotation: This toolkit includes resources related to the project, including a community-engagement survey available in English and in Spanish, an oral health status and knowledge survey, a discussion guide for facilitators to use with communities to learn about children’s oral health needs in the Worcester and Holyoke communities, and oral health profiles for Worcester and Holyoke. A data sheet that provides information about efforts to improve access to oral health care for black and Hispanic children ages 10–14 in these Massachusetts communities is also available.

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Keywords: Access to health care, Blacks, Community programs, Health equity, Hispanic Americans, Massachusetts, Oral health

Annotation: This panel discussion on birth justice was hosted by the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) during Black Maternal Health Week and features Aftershock filmmakers Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis and maternal health advocate Shawnee Benton-Gibson. Health equity and antiracism in maternal and infant health are the focus on the discussion.

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Keywords: Blacks, Community role, Families, Fatherhood, Health equity, Maternal health, Maternal morbidity, Minority health, Racism, Social support, maternal mortality