Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is available to assist health care providers with implementing CDC guidance for infant neuroimaging and infant and placental Zika virus testing. The tool organizes CDC recommendations for evaluating infants with possible congenital Zika exposure by maternal Zika virus exposure status and maternal laboratory test results. CDC will update this tool as more information becomes available.

Protecting Babies, Protecting Yourself

A new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services blog post highlights the data and steps for Zika prevention during pregnancy.

General & Maternal Child Health

Health Equity in the Face of Change

The Region IV Public Health Training Center hosted a webinar on May 22. The presentation provided information for understanding the three dimensions of health intervention: providing health services, addressing the social determinants of health (including poverty and neighborhood conditions) and addressing the social determinants of equity (including racism and other systems of structured inequity). A recording of the webinar is now available.

Realigning Population Health Programs in a Changing Health Care Landscape

The Practical Playbook developed a strategy brief that identifies specific actions public health professionals can take to prepare for the future and work across sectors effectively — no matter what direction emerging health policy takes. The brief also shares specific, workable steps for addressing the social determinants of health and proven best practices.

Advancing Education and Health

The National League of Cities, in collaboration with colleagues at the George Washington University Milken School of Public Health, released a report exploring the role of cities in advancing education and health including a focus on the community schools' strategy. The report spotlights innovative health and education efforts in several cities, as well as strategies for cities to navigate the changing health care landscape.

A Seat at the Table

The Integration Forum released an issue brief that explores strategies that public health leaders can use to get a seat at the table as decisions are being made about health care in their states. It also provides recommendations on what public health leaders can propose to influence planning efforts and to help craft cost-effective, evidence-based public health solutions that advance population health and economic growth.

Feeding Hungry Minds

The School Superintendents Association, with support from the Walmart Foundation, published a resource that focuses on the impact of school breakfast by telling the stories of stakeholders, food service directors, parents and students who shared the reasons they support breakfast being served in school classrooms and hallways.

Multisector Community Health Partnerships

The Roundtable on Population Health Improvement held a workshop in December 2016. The workshop explored multisector community health partnerships that aim to address inequities and improve the health of communities. The Proceedings of a Workshop — in Brief is intended to highlight topics that individual speakers identified as opportunities and challenges to engaging a range of residents and other stakeholders in community-driven social change.

Epidemiology and MCH

A Data Success Story from Wisconsin

The Early Childhood Data Collaborative highlighted the Wisconsin Early Childhood Data System, which is set to launch this year. The system will draw on three state agencies' early childhood data to provide a comprehensive picture of young children and families. The case study examines the model of interagency collaboration and provides recommendations for others working on data integration.

Child and Adolescent Health

Survey Shows How State Programs Serve Children & Youth with Special Health Care Needs

AMCHP released a new report that explores how state agencies dedicated to serving children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) carry out their mission and how their leaders believe they can improve their systems of care. Based on a survey of state and territorial agencies that provide services with federal Title V funding, the National Title V Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs Program Profile offers insight into the structure and strengths of CYSHCN programs, the roles they play in systems of care, their partnerships, financing of care and emerging issues. Download the full report, including an executive summary. For more information, visit AMCHP's CYSHCN website.

New School Health Resources

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new resources on the role of school health services in the management of chronic health conditions. New resources are now available that give evidence-based strategies schools can use to manage chronic health conditions, as well as the relationship between management of chronic health conditions and academic achievement.

Legislation & Policy in MCH

The Impact of the AHCA on Children's Hospitals

The Chartis Group produced a white paper analyzing the impact the American Health Care Act would have on children's hospitals. The paper notes that children's hospitals have become increasingly dependent on Medicaid as their primary payer, so a reduction in Medicaid funding (as proposed in the act) would reduce access, coverage and payments for children's services.

Women's & Infant Health

The Well-Woman: Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice

CityMatCH released the May 2017 issue of CityLights. This issue positions the well-woman at the intersection of reproductive health, rights and justice. It demonstrates how local MCH is and can be bringing together public health, community members and non-traditional partners to advocate a just society.

Giving Babies a Healthy Start

The National Institute for Health Care Management published an issue brief that provides an overview of the collaboration between the Anthem Foundation and the March of Dimes to scale up and implement several programs that encourage first-trimester prenatal care. The programs also help at-risk mothers commit to behaviors that reduce the numbers of low-birthweight babies.

New releases from the CDC, AMCHP and CDC Foundation initiative, Building U.S. Capacity to Review and Prevent Maternal Deaths.

On May 1, a newly created data-collection tool, the Maternal Mortality Review Information Application (MMRIA), was released. MMRIA (known colloquially as "Maria") is a data system, designed for Maternal Mortality Review Committees (MMRCs), that supports essential review functions to enable data to be combined across jurisdictions for regional and national learning that was previously not possible. MMRIA was developed in partnership with MMRCs and subject matter experts and supports standardized record abstraction, case summary development, documentation of committee decisions, and routine analysis – each a critical step of the maternal mortality review process. Standardized data collection is a first step toward fully understanding the causes of maternal mortality and eliminating preventable maternal deaths.

Report from Maternal Mortality Review Committees: A View into Their Critical Role was also recently released, presenting an analysis of data collected from four states during the development of MMRIA and highlighting the value of MMRCs using their data together. It provides an in-depth look at factors contributing to maternal death and showcases opportunities for prevention. The report offers concrete evidence that a maternal death is the tragic result of an intersection of multiple factors related to communities, facilities, providers and patients. Key findings from the four committees' data include:

Fifty-nine percent of pregnancy-related deaths were determined to be preventable.
Mental health conditions were a leading cause of pregnancy-related death during pregnancy and in the late-postpartum period.
MMRCs participating in the report identified an average of three to four contributing factors for every one pregnancy-related death. Factors include such barriers as delays, adherence issues, and lack of knowledge. Through the process of case review, MMRCs can identify service delivery and access gaps, as well as quality improvement opportunities from each woman's death.

As more MMRCs participate in standardized data collection using MMRIA, these data can be used to identify the prevention opportunities with the greatest potential impacts. To learn more about Building U.S. Capacity to Review and Prevent Maternal Deaths, view the April 2016 announcement.