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Preconception Health and Health Care Update
Greetings
This is a monthly communication for individuals interested in improving the health of women and infants through preconception health and health care. We welcome your readership and contributions. |
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Healthy Start Interconception Care Learning Community is Launched
 The Healthy Start Interconception Care (ICC) Learning Community held its first meeting of more than 500 participants on August 3-4, 2009. The purpose of this project is to improve the health and well-being of women by advancing the quality and effectiveness of interconception care. The ICC Learning Community will implement evidence-based practices and the type of innovative community-driven interventions that are a hallmark of Healthy Start.
The ICC Learning Community is a partnership that includes:
- all 102 Healthy Start grantees, as well as consumers and providers from Healthy Start communities engaged in learning teams;
- an Expert Work Group of 18 public and private sector leaders in women's health, primary care, public health, quality improvement, and Healthy Start;
- the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration (MCHB-HRSA); and
- project staff at Abt Associates, Inc. and Johnson Group Consulting, Inc.
Each Healthy Start grantee has formed a team to guide their ICC quality improvement efforts. The quality improvement work during for the next nine months action periods will focus on one of six topics related to interconception care in Healthy Start. Each team will define a plan-do-study-act (PDSA) process through which they will aim through a particular topic to improve their work and outcomes. Topics for this learning cycle include: case management, ICC assessment, family planning, healthy weight, primary care linkages, and maternal depression.
Seventeen learning collaboratives of 5-7 teams each make up the whole of this large learning community. The work is grounded in the model developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. |
NEW AMCHP RFA: Preconception Health for Adolescents Project
The Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) has released a new Request for Applications (RFA).
AMCHP is interested in working with a small cadre of innovative states who would like to integrate preconception health recommendations into their adolescent health efforts.
In an effort to promote reproductive health across the lifespan, AMCHP leaders have formed an Adolescent and Women's Health Practice Collaborative. The initial project for the Collaborative is a Preconception Health for Adolescents Action Learning Collaborative. Up to 5 state teams will receive support for implementation of preconception health efforts targeted toward adolescents into existing public health and education programs. Teams will work to assure community engagement, buy-in and commitment to developing and implementing action plans, and strategies that include preconception health principles in programs, resources, and/or services for adolescents. This project has primary support from the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) and Division of Reproductive Health (DRH), Additional support for this project is provided by Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) with funding from the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD). RFA Deadline: Applications are due no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on Friday, September 4, 2009. To obtain a copy of the RFA or for additional information about the Preconception Health for Adolescents Action Learning Collaborative, contact Sharron Corle at [email protected] |
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Contractive Use Among Postpartum Women
Interconception care begins with quality postpartum visits and effective health interventions. Tracking use of postpartum visits, contraceptive use, and health status are key opportunities for states.
Contraceptive use among women in the postpartum period 2-9 months following a pregnancy was the focus of the August 7th edition of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). CDC staff analyzed data from the 2004--2006 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) from 12 states and New York City. The data indicate that among sexually active postpartum women: 88% reported current use of at least one contraceptive method; 61.7% reported using a highly effective method (e.g., pill, shot, patch, ring), 20.0% used a moderately effective method (e.g., condoms), and 6.4% used less effective methods (e.g., diaphragm, sponge, rhythm, withdrawal). Women with the lowest rates of using at least one method Rates of using highly effective contraceptive methods postpartum were lowest among Asian/Pacific Islanders (35%), women who had wanted to get pregnant sooner (50%), women aged >35 years (53%), and women who had no prenatal care (55%). Prevalence of using highly effective methods was highest in Mississippi (79%). To read more, go to http://cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5830a1.htm.
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 Upcoming Event
The March of Dimes will convene a Symposium on Quality Improvement to Prevent Prematurity on October 8 and 9, 2009, Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia.
The Symposium has been organized by the March of Dimes, ACOG, AAP, ACNM, and AWHONN. The Symposium will bring together a multidisciplinary group of health care practitioners, health insurers, policy makers, health purchasers, regulators and concerned citizens to discuss quality improvement as an essential component in the strategy to prevent prematurity, promote health and save costs.
For more information and to register, go to www.marchofdimes.com/conferences
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Thinking about women in health reform?
In 2007, 11.4 million women were uninsured.
Over 20% of women of child-bearing age (18-44), including 4 in 10 of low-income women (below 200% of poverty) do not have health coverage -- public or private.
Women who are younger, women of color, and have low income more likely to be uninsured.
Enacting policies that provide affordable coverage for all women of childbearing age is essential to the health of women, children, families, and communities.
Visit these web sites to learn more:
White House healthreform.gov
Jacobs Institute of Women's Health
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