Picturing the Future of MCH

Take a look at this chat between Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) Executive Director Michael Fraser, AMCHP President Stephanie Birch, and Aimee Eden, PhD candidate and MCH trainee at University of South Florida. They discuss the future of Maternal and Child Health, the diverse skills valuable for work in the MCH field, and why focusing on advocacy in training is so crucial.

Credit to: Go Beyond MCH

Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait

The March of Dimes has initiated a new project called Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait (HBWW). This public health campaign strives to prevent factors related to preterm birth, including social, medical and biological influences. Children born prematurely are more likely to have vision and hearing problems, lasting physical and mental disabilities, and learning delays later in life. [i] Aiming for pregnancies that are at least 39 weeks in length decreases the likelihood of children developing health problems There has been a rise of in the number of U.S. births before week 39 over the past two decades, with 12.8% of live births in 2006 classified as a preterm birth. [ii]

The Kentucky Department for Public Health in collaboration with the March of Dimes and Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute helped create HBWW: a community-based, preterm birth prevention initiative. An innovative key to the campaign is engaging the community among local- and state-level clinical and public health partners. It includes targeted resources for both the public (info sheet: http://www.marchofdimes.com/pregnancy/getready_atleast39weeks.html) and professionals (toolkit: http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/medicalresources_39weeks.html).

How can we use these strategies in our work throughout MCH? This collaborative theory and process influences much of our work, but more can be done across sectors, fields and levels of work. Check out a webinar March 29, 2012 11:00pm CST sponsored by Healthy People 2020 Leading Health Indicators: http://goo.gl/iFJbQ. Participants will learn about how collaboration and partnerships, provider initiatives, patient support, public engagement, and progress measures helped inform HBWW’s conceptualization.

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[i] March of Dimes. (2010, April). Your premature baby. Retrieved from March of Dimes: http://www.marchofdimes.com/baby/premature_indepth.html

[ii] March of Dimes (2011). Medical Resources. Retrieved from March of Dimes: http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/medicalresources_hbww.html.

Healthy Homes: Lead Poisoning

Keeping the home healthy: an environmental health issue. But should it also be a concern for MCH? Where children spend time eating, drinking, playing, doing homework and sleeping, should the MCH field focus on how living spaces may influence health? Many of the hazards that affect a child’s life course may originate in the home setting. However, should the government regulate private residencies; are they overstepping their boundaries into this sphere, or is this a case to protect a special vulnerable population?

Despite these concerns, public health officials are working to ensure children live fulfilling lives. A MCH campaign in St. Louis is working to prevent lead exposure in children. Researchers there began the Heavy Metal Project, offering low-income pregnant women free home inspections and screening. Moreover, if researchers found lead, they cleaned and covered old paint and replaced windows. Here, the project aimed to prevent newborns from being exposed to lead in the first place.

Was the program effective?

Compared to babies whose homes were not cleaned, babies who lived in homes researchers intervened in had lower blood lead levels. Visit the study’s methodologies and results at: http://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378%2812%2900002-6/fulltext.

Why is this significant?

Lead exposure has been shown to be related to brain damage, leading to lower IQ, behavioral problems and learning disabilities, as well as cardiovascular and immune system troubles later in life. Despite the fact that campaigns have been working for decades to remove lead pain from housing, about 250,000 children each year are diagnosed with lead levels higher than the recommended 10 micrograms. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 24 million homes in the U.S. are still thought to have paint with lead.

In January 2012, the Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention released recommendations to decrease the limit of how much lead exposure is considered dangerous. This was cut in half for children ages 5 and younger, from 10 micrograms to 5, doubling the number of children considered in danger of high levels.

Despite this, Congress has slashed funding for the CDC’s lead prevention grant program from $30 million to $2 million (that’s 94 %!). More and more children are now screened after age 5 for lead positioning; this is in contrast to families receiving home inspections before exposure occurs.

What factors influence this environmental MCH problem?

• Social determinants related to substandard housing
  • Socioeconomic status
  • Education
  • Race/ethnicity

• Children can also be exposed to lead via:
  • Tap water
  • Older toys
  • Jewelry
  • Soil around houses

For more information

Visit the CDC’s Healthy Homes and lead information website at http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyHomes/index.html and http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/ respectively.

MAMA: Motherhood Around the Globe

An online exhibition of global art, voices, and ideas, MAMA: Motherhood around the Globe is an inspiring community for anyone who is a mother, knows one, or works with one (that’s all of you!). Housed through the International Museum of Women, the website includes videos, facts, and figures promoting healthy moms and its significance with delivering healthy babies. Graphic designs describe the status of Millennium Development Goals in related to gender equity, reproductive health and maternal mortality.

Visit the art gallery for paintings, photographs, drawings and sculptures of the beauties and perils of pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood.  Read stories of motherhood from women around the world. Explore global MCH heroes and their novel ideas in preventing maternal mortality and supporting the health of women everywhere.

Do you have an experience (either domestically or globally) working with mothers you would like to share? As a mother, do you have stories you would like to tell others? What did you find most inspiring about the website? Let us know below or send us your anecdotes!