AUCD Resources on the Life course

The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) funded through the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), has released resources on the life course model for students, teachers, and others for use in professional development or to aid in presenting.

This site includes a health equity quiz, case studies on the life course perspective, and a slide and webinar library. These continuing education tools are helpful for anyone wanting to learn more about this theory. Check it out and send suggestions, additions or feedback to the developers!

http://www.aucd.org/template/page.cfm?id=768

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.

Videos: Promoting Healthy Generations

Two different videos representing one collaborative viewpoint: looking at the life course can help promote the health of future generations, both at the national and global level.

 

Fixing Fast Food

A fresh viewpoint on food and obesity in the United States by Mark Bittman of the NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/is-junk-food-really-cheaper.html. Focusing on claims that fast food is cheaper than buying groceries, Bittman compares food prices via graphics and data. An interesting aspect of the article is that the author focuses on cultural changes in cooking. He argues that the real challenge to people not cooking more is not that families feel too stressed and busy to cook, but the fact that cooking is seen as work, rather than of pleasure. Although I do not completely agree with his challenge to being busy, I do agree that over time behaviors can form if healthy habits change. It may be crucial to challenge the value that food is a reward, so during stressful times, people do not turn to guilty pleasure foods.

Stress is an issue to look at with this article. Are higher income adults less stressed than families of lower SES? When people are stretched too thin, they turn to fast food to give them a quick and easy meal, expelling the least amount of energy. Could the solution be here? The underlying cultural value to change may not be that cooking is better (which most people already agree with) but that cooking is a stressful activity. Change in values start with children, where education can shift beliefs in the next generation. Related to the life course approach, early intervention can challenge behaviors in the future.

Mark Bittman’s arguments about prices and calories are compelling; however people have argued that his approach may seem elitist, in an upper-middle class viewpoint. Do you agree? What about single person households? Food goes stale or rots faster; I cannot eat a head of lettuce fast enough before it goes bad. Frozen fruit and vegetables can be alternative to this. The debates can go back and forth. What are your opinions? Leave some comments below; I would love to hear your thoughts.