Search Results: MCH Organizations

Annotation: The Alabama Child Death Review System was created on September 11, 1997 in order to review, evaluate, and prevent cases of unexpected and unexplained child death. ACDRS's mission is to understand how and why children die in Alabama, in order to prevent other child deaths. ACDRS, which includes both state and local child death review teams, focuses on prevention through statistical analysis, education and advocacy efforts, and local community involvement.

Keywords: State agencies, Alabama, Child death review, Infant death, Child death, Infant mortality

Annotation: The Unexplained Infant Death Council assists the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) to develop unexplained infant death training and educational programs, to inform the governor and the legislature of the need for specific programs regarding unexplained infant deaths, and to approve and periodically review the infant death investigation checklist. The council consists of 11 members and is staffed by the ADHS Child Fatality Review Program. The council develops protocols for investigations of infant deaths that have no previously diagnosed illness contributing to the death. The protocols specifically address the need for compassion and sensitivity with parents and caregivers, include recommended procedures for law enforcement, and require scene investigations as a component of the infant death investigation.

Keywords: SIDS, Arizona, Child death, Infant death, Infant mortality, State organizations

Annotation: The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) is a research and advocacy group for children and youth. It gathers data and disseminates information on key issues affecting children and adolescents, including development and implementation of federal and state policies. CDF provides information, technical assistance, and support to a network of state and local child advocates, service providers, and public and private sector officials and leaders. Initiatives have included adolescent pregnancy prevention programs, prenatal care campaigns, universal immunization programs, promotion of the Head Start program, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Publications include a monthly newsletter, CDF Reports. A publications list is available. CDF also coordinates the Black Community Crusade for Children, an effort to strengthen black community support for children, and publishes a newsletter of Crusade activities, Necessary. In addition, it coordinates the Student Heath Outreach (SHOUT) project, a student-run project whose goal is to reach all eligible children and sign them up for health insurance by engaging students, as well as school administrators, in the effort to spread the word about Medicaid and CHIP.

Keywords: Child health, Adolescent pregnancy, Blacks, Child advocacy, Child care, Child safety, Children, Data collection, Homeless persons, Infant mortality, Legislation, Minority groups, Prenatal care, State children', Statistics, s heatlh insurance program

Annotation: The Colorado Child Fatality Review Committee is a multidisciplinary group of professionals representing public health, medicine, law and law enforcement, child welfare, forensics, mental health, and other special interests related to the health and safety of children. The committee has been reviewing all child deaths in Colorado since 1989 to: describe trends and patterns of child death in Colorado, identify and investigate the prevalence of risk factors for child death, characterize high-risk groups in terms compatible with the development of public policy, evaluate the service and system responses to children and families who are at high risk and to offer recommendations for improvement in those responses, and improve the quality and scope of data necessary for child death investigation and review. Specific benefits have resulted from the child fatality review process. These include a better understanding of how children are dying in Colorado, greater accountability among professionals, participation in the development of prevention strategies, statewide child death investigation training, stimulation of policy assessment, and improvement in dialogue with the media.

Keywords: Child death, Colorado, Infant death, Infant mortality, Prevention, SIDS, State agencies

Annotation: Compassionate Friends is a non-profit self-help organization that offers friendship and understanding to families who have experienced the death of a child of any age, from any cause. The group provides support to bereaved parents, grandparents, and siblings. Compassionate friends was founded in 1969; the first of 600 U.S. chapters were organized in 1972. The organization offers brochures & videos. Some materials are available in Spanish. The organization also publishes a catalog and a national magazine, and sponsors several regional meetings and a conference each year. Contact the national office for chapter information in your area.

Keywords: Child death, Support groups, Fetal death, Grief, Perinatal bereavement, Perinatal mortality, Pregnancy loss, Spontaneous abortion

Annotation: The Connor Kirby Infant Memorial Foundation provides financial assistance for funeral and cemetery expenses and for therapy sessions to families suffering from the loss of an infant.

Keywords: Infant death, Bereavement, Child death, Family support services, Fetal death, Financial support, Grief, Infant mortality

Annotation: The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) -- renamed by Congress in 2008 in honor of the Institute's founder -- supports and conducts research on topics related to the health of children, adults, families, and populations. The mission of the NICHD is to ensure that every person is born healthy and wanted; that women suffer no harmful effects from reproductive processes; that all children have the chance to achieve their full potential for healthy and productive lives, free from disease or disability; and to ensure the health, productivity, independence, and well-being of all people through optimal rehabilitation. Areas of emphasis include: events that happen prior to and throughout pregnancy and childhood, including infertility, pre-term birth, birth defects, developmental disabilities, and human learning and behavior; human growth and development across the lifespan, including nutrition, developmental biology, and congenital diseases; reproductive health and education about reproductive practices, including disorders affecting fertility and infertility, contraception, and sexually transmitted diseases/HIV/AIDS; and medical rehabilitation interventions for those affected by disabilities, including technology and assistive-device development, intervention evaluation, and health promotion and prevention of disabilities. The Center for Research for Mothers and Children, the Center for Population Research, the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research, the Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research, and the Division of Intramural Research comprise the NICHD. The Institute offers a wide range of materials for various audiences, from researchers to parents; many publications are available in Spanish.

Keywords: Adolescent health, Child health, Congenital abnormalities, Infant health, Infant mortality, Maternal health, Medical research, Mental retardation, National Institutes of Health, Nutrition, Population dynamics, Publications, Reproductive health, Spanish language materials, Training

Annotation: The Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions is dedicated to strengthening maternal and child health by ensuring that all Florida families have access to a continuum of affordable and quality health and related services and advocating for public policy initiatives to facilitate those services. The coalition aids over 30 statewide Healthy Start programs in Florida to assist at-risk mothers receive the care they need for a healthy pregnancy and baby through local coalitions providing high-quality prenatal care for mothers and health care for infants and children.

Keywords: Advocacy, Child health, Florida, Healthy Start, Infant health, Infant mortality, Maternal health, Prevention programs, State programs

Annotation: The March of Dimes (MOD) works to prevent birth defects and infant mortality through research, education, and advocacy programs. MOD's Pregnancy and Newborn Health Education Center provides information and referral services for the general public and professionals on topics such as preconception health, pregnancy, childbirth, genetics, and birth defects. MOD also produces educational materials on these and other topics such as prematurity, baby care, adolescent pregnancy, folic acid, nursing, and bereavement. A publications catalog is available, and some materials are available in Spanish. Anyone can subscribe to MOD's free electronic newsletter. MOD also sponsors the Prematurity Research Initiative, which provides funding for research into the causes of prematurity, and has developed PeriStats -- an online source for maternal, infant, and child health-related data at the state level and for many indicators at the county and national level (available at http://peristats.modimes.org/). The website can be viewed in English and Spanish.

Keywords: Congenital abnormalities, Adolescent pregnancy, Advocacy, Childbirth education, Genetic disorders, Genetics education, Infant mortality, Information services, Medical research, Patient education, Prenatal care, Preterm birth, Professional education, Public awareness materials, Spanish language materials, Spanish language website

Annotation: The National Citizens Review Panels promotes and supports state-level citizen review panels (CRPs) -- groups of citizen volunteers who are federally mandated to evaluate their state's child protective services agency. The national organization coordinates communication among the state panels throughout the United States and shares promising practices and facilitates the work of the panels. The Web site contains information about each state's CRP, including contact information, state program overviews, annual reports, citizen volunteer application and recruitment tools, training materials, and related documents.

Keywords: Infant death, Child death, Child death review, Child protective services, Infant mortality

Annotation: The Child Fatality Review Committee (CFRC) was created by Executive Order in 1991 to reduce preventable child fatalities through systemic multidisciplinary review of child fatalities in New Hampshire; through multidisciplinary training and community based prevention education; and through data-driven recommendations for legislation and public policy. The Committee membership is comprised of representation from the medical, law enforcement, judicial, legal, victim services, public health, mental health, child protection and education communities. The Committee began reviewing cases of child fatalities in 1996 to identify risk factors related to deaths and make recommendations aimed at improving systematic responses in an effort to prevent similar deaths in the future. The Committee provides the recommendations to the participating agencies and asks them to take actions consistent with their own mandates. The Committee publishes the recommendation and the agency responses to those recommendations in an Annual Report.

Keywords: State agencies, , Cause of death, Child death review, Child mortality, Infant death review committees, New Hampshire

Annotation: The Northwest Infant Survival and SIDS Alliance (NISSA) is dedicated to the informational and emotional support of bereaved families, to the education of the general public and health professionals, and to the ultimate elimination of this tragic medical phenomenon through research. NISSA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit health organization. It was formerly called SIDS Foundation of Washington.

Keywords: Bereavement, Child death, Grief, Infant mortality, Prevention, SIDS, State organizations

Annotation: UNICEF, the United Nation's Children's Fund, works with others around the globe to overcome the obstacles caused by poverty, violence, disease, and discrimination. UNICEF promotes immunization, works to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids among young people, promotes girls' education and gender equality, and advocates for children. Information by country, contained on the Web site, includes basic health indicators such as mortality and life expectancy; efforts in advocacy, education, and fundraising; and guidelines for becoming involved. UNICEF's Innocenti Research Centre helps to identify and research areas that are vital to the current and future work of the organization. A publications catalog is available online. Interested individuals are invited to subscribe to receive electronic news alerts.

Keywords: Immunization, AIDS, Adolescents, Child advocacy, Child health, Developing countries, Fundraising, Gender discrimination, Health promotion, International health, Mortality, Preventive health services