Category Archives: maternal and child health

Honoring Essential Agents of Change: A Partnership Strategy

By Deborah Mutschler, Massachusetts Essentials for Childhood 

Massachusetts Essentials for Childhood (MA EfC) promotes a variety of opportunities communities can employ to promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments to prevent child abuse and neglect. To highlight an expansive view of partnership, MA EfC created the Essential Agent of Change Awards, which honors community groups with missions that don’t directly address child abuse and neglect prevention, but still strengthen protective factors in families and communities that support safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for all children and families. Continue reading →

Colorado’s Family Friendly Workplace Approach

By Tomei Kuehl, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Colorado is one of five Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Essentials for Childhood recipients and chose to focus on employer engagement as one a strategy to address child abuse and neglect prevention and promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for all children. The Colorado Essentials for Childhood project leveraged partnerships and resources to develop the Family-Friendly Workplace Toolkit, which provides employers with evidence-informed practices and policies that enhance employee health and well-being. Continue reading →

Translating Child Adversity Data into Actionable Information

By Marissa Abbott, MPH and Steve Wirtz, PhD, California Department of Public Health

The California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative launched a new set of child adversity and resilience data indicators on Kidsdata.org. Furthermore, the initiative created state and local dashboards to bring together sources of data that represent a broader set of life experiences than originally reflected in the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study, such as living in poverty or dangerous neighborhoods. The goal was to make these data widely available and provide training on how to talk about adversity to increase local capacity for preventive action. Continue reading →

North Carolina Essentials for Childhood

By Catherine Joyner & Michelle Reis, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health

In 2014, the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) Division of Public Health (DPH), convened a statewide Task Force on Essentials for Childhood, tasked with developing a collaborative, evidence-based, public health initiative to address child abuse and neglect prevention and family well-being in North Carolina. The Task Force issued 15 recommendations aimed at improving collaboration and ensuring safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments for North Carolina’s children. Continue reading →

NACCHO Exchange Summer 2018: Breastfeeding

The summer 2018 issue of NACCHO Exchange showcases the ways in which local health departments are implementing policy, systems, and environment changes to increase breastfeeding rates in their communities. Below is an excerpt from the issue.

By Emily Bernard, IBCLC, NACCHO Consultant; Harumi Reis-Reilly, MS, LDN, CHES, IBCLC, Lead Program Analyst, Breastfeeding Project, NACCHO; and Nikia Fuller-Sankofa, MPH, MPA, Director, Breastfeeding Project, NACCHO

Breastfeeding in the Community: Using Policy, Systems, and Environmental Change Strategies to Facilitate Continuity of Care

Background
Leading health agencies in the United States recognize breastfeeding as a public health priority, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Suboptimal breastfeeding has significant public health implications. Because human milk contains unreplaceable immunomodulation properties and live substances including antibodies, hormones, and enzymes that are not found in breast milk substitutes, infants who are not breastfed do not receive the same protection against illnesses.1 Not breastfeeding also increases the mother’s risk of several diseases, including breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and type 2 diabetes. Infants who are not breastfed have higher rates of diarrhea, necrotizing enterocolitis, otitis media, sudden infant death syndrome, obesity, and childhood leukemia.2 Annually, suboptimal breastfeeding contributes to 3,340 excess deaths, with medical costs totaling $3 billion and the costs of premature death totaling $14.2 billion.3 Continue reading →

Local Public Health Spreads Importance of Good Oral Health during Children’s Dental Health Month

By Umair A. Shah, MD, MPH, NACCHO President and Executive Director of Harris County Public Health in Houston, Texas

The oral cavity, including the teeth and surrounding structures, are necessary for adequate nutrition, proper speech and a positive self-image.  Although tooth decay is largely preventable, it continues to be the most common chronic disease of early childhood.1  Dental health can impact school performance when a child has untreated tooth decay with resulting pain that affects their ability to concentrate, sleep at night or even attend school, “more than 51 million school hours are lost each year to dental related illness.”2 Taxpayers share approximately 11% of the $113.5 billion spent nationally on dental care expenditures, a percentage that has increased over the years as dental care utilization continues to increase among children.3  Children with cavities in their primary (baby) teeth are three times more likely to develop cavities in their permanent (adult) teeth which could contribute to broader health problems including diabetes and cardiovascular disease.4 Continue reading →

Story From the Field: Children’s Home Society of Florida

By Shannon Currie, MSL, Community School Director, Children’s Home Society of Florida and Harumi Reis-Reilly, MS, LDN, IBCLC, Lead Program Analyst, Breastfeeding Project, Safe, Healthy and Resilient Communities, NACCHO

Meeting Teen Moms Where They Are: An Innovative School-based Breastfeeding Program

Children’s Home Society and Commonsense Childbirth engaged the community of Pine Hills from community-based partnerships designed to demonstrate improvement in breastfeeding practices for registered participants in the early post-partum period, at 6 months and 12 months, as compared to 2013 statistical data collected from the Florida Department of Health. Children’s Home Society (CHS) of Florida provided Wellness Coaches to deliver peer lactation support and education through direct referral and online support through the Peer and Online Lactation Support (POLS) portal. Continue reading →