At the heart of MCH are the families: the women, the infants, the children, the youth, the caregivers, the extended kin networks — those among us who are most vulnerable. Their voices bring shape and color to our work. The parents of children with special health care needs have always held special place in this […]
Author: anderslj@umn.edu
Guest post: reflections on AMCHP from MCH student Annie Fedorowicz
I have been told many times by people working outside the field of public health that my MPH degree in maternal and child health will only be useful as a supplemental degree for my future career. Explaining that I wish to be a public health practitioner is too abstract for people to grasp: “Public health, […]
Guest post: Ellen Gormican on AMCHP and graduation
Guest blogger: Ellen Gormican My experiences at the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) annual conference in Washington D.C. have compelled me to confront some of the many dualities that I feel are particular to a student’s perspective in the world of Public Health. On the one hand, I have spent almost two […]
From the Lancet: estimated incidence of HPV among men
As several news sources are now reporting, results from a cohort study funded by the National Cancer Institute note that 50% of a recent study’s participants tested positively for HPV at enrollment. Okay, that’s not quite what they’re saying. But they aren’t epidemiologists, are they? The cohort study, conducted by researchers at the H. Lee […]
New resource from WellShare International
WellShare International just released a new DVD for health care providers and their Somali patients: Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies II. Available in Somali with English subtitles, the DVD includes important and culturally-sensitive information on reproductive health topics, including: child spacing breastfeeding healthy eating and exercise C-sections And more. To order a free copy or for […]
Guest post: Nicole Steffens on AMCHP
First year MCH student Nicole Steffens tells us about her experience at AMCHP this year: Adolescent health and public health frameworks, such as the life course model, framed the majority of my experience at AMCHP this year. On Saturday, the Preconception Health Symposium covered various states’ strategies of introducing a preconception framework into state health […]
Andy Goodman on Storytelling
One of my favorite sessions from this year’s AMCHP conference:
Greetings from AMCHP
Hello from Washington DC, our nation’s capital and the stellar venue for this year’s Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) conference. Minnesota’s MCH program is certainly well represented in 2011: counting yours truly, we have six current students at the conference along with several gainfully employed graduates. Each morning we convene for coffee […]
Our prenatal prospects: some thoughts
The “new” science of fetal orgins, as a New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof describes, draws substantial correlations between many diseases (autism, schizophrenia, even obesity) and an infant’s uterine environment. Although research remains mixed, much of it indicates that life before birth has a substantial impact on later life course. (FYI: Barker and colleagues were […]
Performance Improvement: Balancing Act?
Can we improve our performance (or that of our organizations) AND achieve better public health outcomes by establishing (practicing?) better work/life balance? Could a culture of better ‘balance’ help us to develop increased capacity or competency in the long run? There is a lot to be said for making small, mindful investments in the right […]
U of MN School of Public Health alum lifts Minneapolis youth out of street crime and into more promising lives
Emergency physician Dave Dvorak goes beyond ‘treat and street’ to stop the cycle of violence for Minneapolis kids. A victim of child abuse who ends up in the emergency department would never be treated and sent back to a violent environment without some sort of intervention. But all too often that’s exactly what happens when […]
Edward Ehlinger appointed Health Commissioner
More news in the good-for-Minnesotans (and GREAT for MCH) category… Edward Ehlinger — former medical director at the University of Minnesota’s Boynton Medical Center and adjunct faculty at the School of Public Health — was recently appointed Commissioner of Health by Governor Mark Dayton. Ehlinger is a stalwart proponent of public health, one who regularly […]
National Radon Action Month
Ahem. The EPA has designed January as “National Radon Action Month”: Pretty great, right? But for those readers reluctant to take advice from a Lego figure, here’s an overview: What’s radon, anyway? Radon is a naturally occurring, radioactive gas that is released as uranium in the soil breaks down. It is also the number one […]
More data, please! Ezra Klein on the investment deficit (and why numbers matter)
A column by Ezra Klein in last week’s Washington Post should provide some comfort to recent (and soon-to-be!) graduates of public health programs around the country. The bad news first: along with the staggering federal budget deficit, Americans face an investment deficit that will have repercussions for decades. Americans need to invest more money into […]