The March of Dimes has initiated a new project called Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait (HBWW). This public health campaign strives to prevent factors related to preterm birth, including social, medical and biological influences. Children born prematurely are more likely to have vision and hearing problems, lasting physical and mental disabilities, and learning delays […]
Category: Social Determinants of Health
Healthy Homes: Lead Poisoning
Keeping the home healthy: an environmental health issue. But should it also be a concern for MCH? Where children spend time eating, drinking, playing, doing homework and sleeping, should the MCH field focus on how living spaces may influence health? Many of the hazards that affect a child’s life course may originate in the home […]
MCH Student Elisabeth Seburg ‘LEND’s an ear at AMCHP
Elisabeth Seburg is a second year MPH student at the University of Minnesota School Of Public Health. She is in the Maternal and Child Health program as well as a fellow in the University of Minnesota Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Program. As a trainee in two MCHB funded programs, Elisabeth tells […]
MCH Student Annie Fedorowicz on her first Professional Presentation
A hundred different thoughts were racing through my head as I waited to give my first professional presentation at the 2nd annual Making Lifelong Connections meeting… Will I remember to take a breath and slow down? How do I connect with the audience? I have to remember not to read the slides and just tell […]
Perceptions of HIV in Hard Hit Areas
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has released a new and enlightening report from a 12-city project initiated by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Department created the plan to enhance HIV prevention, care and treatment in cities with high HIV/AIDS burden. These metropolitan cities represent 44% of the U.S.’s AIDS […]
Videos available from May 2011 Symposium on Children’s Mental Health
2011 Public Health Symposium on Early Childhood Mental Health Translating the science of early experiences into culturally informed policy and practice Keynote Speakers included: Robert Anda, MD, MS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atum Azzahir, Powderhorn/Phillips Cultural Wellness Center Diane Benjamin, MPH, FrameWorks Institute Ed Ehlinger, MD, MS, Commissioner of Health, Minnesota Megan Gunnar, […]
HPV Vaccination Recommendation for Boys
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) released recommendations for boys and the HPV vaccine yesterday. In order to reduce risk of acquiring genital warts, in 2009 the ACIP advised that the vaccine may be administered to males aged 9 through 26, however they did not recommend the vaccine for routine use. The unanimous […]
New Issue of Healthy Generations: MCH in the New Era of HIV
Hot off the presses! The Center for Leadership Education in Maternal and Child Public Health at the University of Minnesota is very pleased to announce the release of the Fall 2011 issue of Healthy Generations on MCH in the New Era of HIV. Print copies will arrive in your mailbox in the next couple of […]
Guest Post: students reflect on time in Dominican Republic
Our six weeks in the Dominican Republic gave us a chance to put everything we learned during our first year as Maternal and Child Health students into some intense practice. The gist of our field experience was to create, administer, and analyze data from a community health survey in an agrarian region of the Dominican […]
Lifecourse: a video from Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child
Take a look at this fun and easy-to-understand 3 minute video that describes how a life course and social ecological approach in collaboration with policy can help improve the health of our nation:
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 […]
Becoming a data detective: some advice from David McCandless
Looking for the perfect gift for the epidemiologist in your life? Self-described “data journalist” David McCandless hopes you’ll consider his book, “The Visual Miscellaneum: A Colorful Guide to the World’s Most Consequential Trivia,” now available in stores. Based on data he’s gathered from varied sources as the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the European Environment […]
A new “culture of poverty”: recent research from sociology
An article in this past week’s New York Times explores the scholarly refashioning of America’s “culture of poverty,” a concept popularized by Daniel Patrick Moynihan in his infamous 1965 report, “The Negro Family: The Case For National Action.” As detailed elsewhere, Moynihan noted some disturbing trends among poor black Americans: fewer sustained marriages, a related […]
Increasing poverty, decreasing health coverage: new Census Report findings
The recently released (9/16/2010) 2009 Census Report found striking evidence of our ongoing Great Recession: An increase in the nation’s poverty rate to 14.3% — according to the press release, “the second statistically significant annual increase in the poverty rate since 2004” and the highest percentage of total poverty since 1994. That’s 44 million individuals, […]
Is Inequality Making Us Sick? Unnatural Causes – Free screening at UMN April 29, 2010
FACT: The average U.S. life expectancy, at 78.2 years, remains far below that of other developed nations. FACT: Even after adjusting for behaviors and access to health care, middle-class Americans live an average of three fewer years than their upper-class counterparts. FACT: African Americans, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders have consistently poorer health outcomes than […]