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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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Using Reproductive Life Plans
On February 25, 2010 at 2 pm, the next in a series of Healthy Start Interconception Care Learning Community (ICC LC) webinars will be held. The topic is: The Reproductive Life Plan: What it is and why to use it. The presenter will be Merry-K. Moos, national expert, author, and leader in preconception health.
Reproductive life plans are one approach for helping individuals plan, based on their own values and resources, how to achieve a set of personal goals about whether or when to have children. They are increasingly being used by women, clinicians, and public health agencies.
This webinar is co-hosted by Abt Associates and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Preconception Health Initiative, with the support of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration (MCHB-HRSA). This webinar is open to all.
- Discuss a consensus definition for reproductive life plans.
- Describe the purposes of reproductive life plans in clinical and community settings.
- Discuss core characteristics of a reproductive life plan tool.
- Consider how to avoid potential unintended consequences of promoting reproductive life planning.
- Illustrate practical applications for this tool.
SAVE THE DATE and watch for additional information about how to register for this webinar. |
Strategic Opportunities to Improve Preconception Health
The Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative of the CDC is guided by a Select Panel, four Work Groups (clinical, public health, consumer, and policy/finance), and a steering committee representing key national organizations concerned with the health of women and infants. Recently, they considered a slate of strategic opportunities to improve preconception health.
The consensus was that 2010 is a time to build on the remarkable knowledge base and energy that has been generated since 2004. Let's not reinvent the wheel, but keep it turning. Resources are limited but many no-cost and low-cost projects can advance the field.
Some of the consensus priorities from the volunteer leaders of the Preconception Health and Health Care (PCHHC) Initiative include, but are not limited to the following.
- Launch a webinar series and continue the monthly e-newsletter.
- Develop a Healthy People 2020 objective on preconception.
- Refine health education messages through research and demonstration projects.
- Augment the on-line curriculum for professionals (www.beforeandbeyond.org).
- Offer a special session at the ACOG annual clinical meeting.
- Plan for a 3rd National Summit on preconception health in 2011.
- Develop quality measures in partnership with NCQA .
- Convene a workgroup to advance the science and practice of using reproductive life plans.
- Create a clearinghouse for evidence-based and best practices.
- Assist states in policy and program development.
- Develop new health information technology (HIT) tools.
- With passage of health reform, making a clear connection to the PCHHC opportunities for the 40% of low-income women who were formerly uninsured.
- Conduct a clinical demonstration project to examine the association between preconception care (package of services) and pregnancy outcomes (pending funding).
States and communities are setting their own priorities. Look for updates in this e-newsletter. |
| January is Birth Defects Prevention Month
Helping women and men prevent birth defects is one of the goals of preconception health and health care efforts. For some key risks associated with birth defects, interventions to improve health must start before conception occurs.
Many women who want to have babies in the best possible health suffer from a variety of chronic conditions (e.g., asthma, obesity, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, dental disease, and thyroid disorders) that affect their health and future pregnancies they may have. Women also may be exposed to (or consume) substances which could lead to pregnancy loss, infant death and birth defects. Too many women smoke, misuse alcohol, and/or misuse illicit drugs. Workplace hazards and other environmental exposures also can contribute to rates of birth defects. Lack of essential vitamins such as folic acid to prevent neural tube defects continues to be a challenge. Last, but not least, social determinants of women's health play a role in pregnancy outcome - poor women face more psychosocial stressors and health risks. Our nation cannot have healthier babies while we neglect the health of women.
Several comprehensive reviews of the literature have identified a list of risk factors for which preconception care (risk assessment, health promotion, and interventions) may be effective. For example, clinical trials have shown the potential impact of this three-pronged approach on birth defects such as fetal alcohol syndrome and neural tube defects. Similar approaches can reduce smoking and exposure to teratogens. Ongoing care can help to control diabetes and achieve healthy weight. Researchers at CDC and across the country are working on new and more effective approaches to improve the health of women and to prevent birth defects.
For more information, visit the:
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Calls for Abstracts: Submit your work on Preconception Health and Health Care
Please submit and abstract and share with your colleagues...
For the 16th Annual Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology (MCH EPI) Conference, the website will open for abstract submissions in February with a deadline of Monday, May 31. The date of the conference to be announced soon.
Only two weeks remain to submit your abstract for the American Public Health Association 2010 Annual Meeting and Exposition to be held November 6-10, in Denver, CO. The deadline for submission of abstracts range from February 1 thru February 5, 2010 depending on the Section, SPIG, Caucus or Forum to which you wish to submit. The theme is Social Justice: A Public Health Imperative. | |
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Thinking about women in health reform?
Visit these web sites to learn more:
White House healthreform.gov
Jacobs Institute of Women's Health
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