What's New
In previous years the Maternal and Child Health Institute focused on maternal and child health issues domestically. However, this year APHA sought applicants working on international maternal and child health but based in the United States.
Teams from Ethiopia, Florida and New Mexico were selected to participate.
CLICK HERE to read The Nation's Health article on the MCH Institute orientation held at APHA's Annual Meeting in Washington,DC.
CLICK HERE to read more about the application process.
Program Descripton
Open to all states, the Institute is sponsored through funding from the Colgate-Palmolive Company. The Institute will help build capacity within each state, nationally, to advance the Healthy People 2010 objectives. The American Public Health Association believes that excellence in public health practice and public programming in our states is directly related to the level of leadership provided by state leaders.
The Institute will assist state maternal and child health directors and state APHA affiliates in collaboration with community and civic leaders to achieve the Healthy People 2010 MCH objectives. Although much has been achieved in maternal and child health, a comparison of US health indicators with those of other developed (and some less developed) countries, and the marked racial, ethnic, and class disparities in our society demonstrate how much remains to be done. Advances in biomedical knowledge and technology have been applied quickly to improve maternal and child health care, as evidenced by survival at increasingly low birth weights and early gestational age. However, the diffusion and application of social scientific knowledge is less evident.
To date, most research and interventions have focused on the individual characteristics and risk factors of women and children. However, scientific inquiry has begun to report the profound influence of contextual factors on health behavior and health status. The institute offers health officials and advocates the opportunity to look at recent research on the effects of social systems, community context, social capital and economic inequality and to examine how findings may be applied to change social systems and, in turn, to enhance the well-being of women and children.
Using an approach that addresses a community's "social and human capital," APHA wants to help citizens and communities take center stage and become active participants in solving our nation's maternal and child health problems in the New Millennium.
Core Team Training
The centerpiece of the Institute is a two-day orientation. The first phase of training includes the review of existing research and data related to maternal and child health including the racial and ethnic disparities, neighborhood and community risk factors and the role of social factors in improving health. The training will provide a forum for exploration of new paradigms, and new ways of approaching some of the complex and long-lasting issues related to improving maternal and child health for all populations.
Follow-up sessions, using a self-study approach, will be conducted throughout the year. Technical assistance will be provided through monthly telephone conference calls.
Institute Focus, Objectives and Outcomes
Using experiential and didactic approaches, the Institute exposes participants to concepts, models and tools such as geographic information systems, qualitative mathematic logic, neighborhood indicator systems, community-based public health, measuring social capital, communicating with health policy makers, diversity and social determinants of health.
Core Principles
Social Capital
Social capital builds community strength and well being by allowing persons and communities to mobilize greater resources and achieve the common good. These qualities are often described as social connectedness, social trust and community identity.
Community Building
Community building is the process of improving the quality of life in a neighborhood by building capacity in neighborhood institutions, strengthening ties among residents, and developing individual capacities in order to work individually and collectively toward neighborhood change.
Social Justice
The pursuit of good health is both an obligation and a right. Fairness and equity are important to health because maintaining normal functioning contributes to opportunities for all and the fair distribution of goods.