Maternal and Child Health News

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The National Institutes of Health announced it will award up to $400,000 to fund groups or individuals looking to design effective, innovative methods for identifying complication risks in first-time pregnancies.
The Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium has begun enrolling up to 1,000 pregnant and postpartum individuals who have or will receive COVID-19 vaccine in a study to assess vaccine safety, immune response and transfer of antibodies to their infants, the National Institutes of Health announced.
In part two in a series of podcasts on rebuilding maternity services at a critical access hospital, officials from the UNC School of Medicine at Chapel Hill and Chatham Hospital UNC Health Care at Siler City, N.C., discuss how a plan was fulfilled to reintroduce safe and sustainable maternity services.
The National Institutes of Health yesterday reported that a healthy diet from around the time of conception through the second trimester may reduce for women the risk of several common pregnancy complications.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that rates of breastfeeding initiation have increased during the past decade but racial and ethnic disparities in breastfeeding persist.
Women are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety disorders during pregnancy and into the first postpartum year than at any other time in their lives, writes Margaret Howard, division director of women's behavioral health at Providence, R.I.-based Women & Infants Hospital and executive director of women’s behavioral health at Care New England.
In this first of two AHA podcasts on rebuilding maternity services at critical access hospitals, officials from the UNC School of Medicine at Chapel Hill and Chatham Hospital UNC Health Care at Siler City, N.C., discuss the strategic need and clinical case for maternity services at their small, rural community.
Health care and other organizations can apply through June 4 for up to $1 million a year for four years to test a network approach to improving maternal health access and outcomes in rural regions.
The Health Resources and Services Administration awarded states and territories $40 million in emergency funding from the American Rescue Plan Act for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, which provides voluntary home visits to improve maternal and child health for families in high-risk communities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Health Resources and Services Administration should disaggregate and analyze maternal health data for rural and underserved communities, and adjust maternal health program efforts to meet the needs in those communities, the Government Accountability Office said in a report.
In this AHA video for Mother’s Day, part of AHA’s #MyWhy social media campaign, a pregnant health care worker explains why she chose to get vaccinated. 
The Nursing Community Coalition (NCC) wrote to the co-sponsors of the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 (H.R. 959/S. 346) to reiterate the coalition’s support for the legislation.
As part of Maternal Mental Health Week and Maternal Mental Health Day, AHA speaks with St. Peter’s Health and Montana Coalition officials about Taking Care of You, a rural Montana-based parental support approach to treating perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.
With the country in the grips of an opioid epidemic, Norton Healthcare in 2015 launched the Maternal Opiate and Substance Treatment program, which makes it easy and non-stigmatizing for pregnant women with substance use disorder to access addiction treatment during obstetrical care, dramatically reducing admissions for neonatal abstinence syndrome.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) launched a national strategy on April 20 to address racial health disparities, starting with maternal health. This multiyear strategy is built on harnessing data analytics to measure and track disparities and taking programs that work for individual Blues plans and bringing them to scale.
The American Hospital Association (AHA) announced the presentation of its 2020 Award of Honor to March of Dimes for its commitment to advancing the health and well-being of mothers and babies.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of California San Francisco Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences tested a new survey tool to capture patient experiences of obstetric racism during hospital births.
At AHA’s Amplifying the Voices of Mothers event, experts from across the health care field engaged in a national conversation dedicated to maternal health equity.
As part of its recognition of Black Maternal Health Week (April 11-17), the Department of Health and Human Services through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved a Section 1115 waiver for Illinois to be the first state to extend full Medicaid coverage to pregnant women for up to one year after delivery.
Minority Health Month (April) and Black Maternal Health Week (April 11-17) provide an opportunity for hospitals and health systems to discuss childbirth risks for communities of color.