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Local Health Department in Action: Boston Public Health Commission
As part of its recently established framework for understanding and eliminating racial disparities in infant mortality, the Boston Public Health Commission's (BPHC), has launched a radically new type of Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) process. The conceptual model abandons many traditional FIMR elements and seeks instead to identify and devise community-initiated responses to conditions experienced by black women in Boston that compromise optimal preconception and prenatal women's health. This model attends almost exclusively to women's own sense of their experience with their health and the health care system. In an effort to explain poor birth outcomes in the women's own terms, it tries to identify points where there are mismatches between women's needs and what they experience.
For more information visit:
http://www.naccho.org/topics/modelpractices/database/practice.cfm?PracticeID=40
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Upcoming Event
Surgeon General's Conference on the Prevention of Preterm Birth
The Surgeon General's Conference on the Prevention of Preterm Birth is set for June 16-17 in Bethesda, Maryland, and day two of the event is free and open to the public. Individual registration is required online, and space will be available to the first 150 individuals on a first-come, first-served basis. This conference fulfills the requirements set forth in the PREEMIE Act, aimed at increasing awareness of the problem of preterm birth in the US, reviewing research findings, and establishing an agenda in both the public and private sectors to address the problem. For more information and to register, go to
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Archived NACCHO Webcast
Improving Birth Outcomes: Community Strategies to Address Infant Mortality
To view the archived webcast, visit:
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Documentary Series Examines Infant Mortality Within the Context of Racial and Socioeconomic Inequalities Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? is a seven-part documentary series that explores ways in which social conditions affect population health and how some communities are extending lives by improving these conditions. Conceived as part of a larger impact campaign in association with leading public health, policy, and community-based organizations, the series is a production of California Newsreel with Vital Pictures. Episode 2 in the series, titled When the Bough Breaks, specifically examines the conditions that surround and negatively impact African-American women and their infants. Information about the documentary series and series objectives, episode descriptions, video clips, a discussion guide, and transcripts are available from the series' Web site. A searchable database containing articles, Web sites, data, interviews, interactivities, case studies, and educational and outreach materials is also provided. More information is available at http://www.unnaturalcauses.org.
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Nationwide Evaluation of FIMR Programs
The Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) process is used by communities to determine the community-level factors associated with individual cases of fetal or infant death. FIMR teams think about infant mortality in the larger context of social, economic, and systems factors, with the ultimate goal of improving community resources and health service delivery systems for women, infants, and families.
Evaluation FindingsFIMR programs contribute significantly to improvements in systems of health care for pregnant women and infants through enhanced public health activities in communities.
Communities with FIMRs were more likely to report activities in the areas of data assessment and analysis, client services and access, quality improvement for systems of care, partnerships and collaboration, population advocacy and policy development, as well as enhancement of the health workforce.
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New Press Release from NIH: Uncovering Factors That Influence Premature Infant Health
 NIH researchers have identified several factors that influence an
extremely low birth weight infant's chances for survival and disability.
The findings will help physicians and families to choose the most
appropriate treatments. The infants were more likely to survive
according to a study, the researchers found-and more likely to survive without disability-if they were: 1) of older gestational age, 2) higher birth weight, 3) female, 4) born single rather than in a multiple birth,and 5) if the baby's mother was given medication during pregnancy to help the development of the baby's lungs.
To learn more, go to
http://www.nih.gov/news/research_matters/april2008/04212008preemie.htm
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Excerpts from NACCHO Public Health Dispatch
MCH- Related Tools and Resources
 This monthly newsletter sent to all active NACCHO members contains brief updates, events, resources, job postings, funding opportunities, member highlights, and other information of relevance to LHDs. Regular sections include family health, reproductive health, environmental health, emergency preparedness, mental health, and immunizations among others.
For a free download of past issues, visit http://www.naccho.org/pubs/category.cfm?Category_ID=8 | |
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