Preventing Infant Mortality in Georgia February 2019

Recommended Citation (Continued from page 15) Results Matter: Preventing Infant Mortality in Georgia. Anne Lang Dunlop, MD, MPH; Sarah Blake, PhD, MA; Tracie Graham, MPH, Emory University; Andrea Young Kellum, MPH, Healthcare Georgia Foundation, Issue 1, February 2019, Publication #104. Barriers to accessing affordable, quality healthcare still exists particularly in rural communities, where women’s access to OB/GYN providers is limited and many hospitals have closed their labor and delivery units. There may also be opportunities to move to an even further upstream approach by addressing the social determinants of health (e.g. poverty, education, employment, transportation) along with exploring the effects that racism and “toxic stress” have on the birth outcomes of African-American women. Data show that African-American women with higher education and higher income are still at increased risk of having a preterm or low birth weight baby than White women who do not have a high school degree. This points to the fact that there may be some missed opportunities in programs that only focus on high- risk African-American women. About Results Matter Healthcare Georgia Foundation is strongly committed to improving program outcomes through ongoing evaluation. Results Matter highlights the evaluation results, key findings, and lessons learned following the conclusion of a Foundation program or initiative. This report also includes reflections from Foundation staff on the overall evaluation results, the impact of the initiative, and the Foundation’s best thinking on the strategic grantmaking approach for next steps. HEALTHCARE GEORGIA FOUNDATION is a statewide, private independent foundation whose mission is to advance the health of all Georgians and to expand access to affordable, quality healthcare for underserved individuals and communities. How will the Foundation do its work differently? The impact of the TCOY Initiative cannot be understated. During program implementation, none of the programs experienced sleep-related infant deaths. The lessons learned from this initiative will inform future funding decisions regarding infant mortality and support the decision to focus on overall women’s health. Georgia is also experiencing significant disparities in maternal mortality – the number of women per 100,000 live births who die during pregnancy or in the six weeks afterward. Analyses support that the same underlying factors that contribute to poor birth and infant health outcomes drive disparities in maternal mortality, namely, lack of access to quality healthcare and family planning services before and between pregnancies and lack of access to quality prenatal, perinatal, and post-birth care. Recently, Amnesty International ranked Georgia as 50 th in the nation for its maternal mortality rate of 20.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Although there are debates about the true maternal mortality statistics in Georgia, the nature of the problem exists. This presents an opportunity for the Foundation to not only take the TCOY model to scale among other public health agencies, but to also expand its focus to maternal mortality as well. It also presents an opportunity for the Foundation to leverage resources by partnering with nonprofit community-based organizations, policy groups, and other organizations that focus on women’s health and can help the Foundation address the social determinants of health that impact adverse birth outcomes.  Healthcare Georgia Foundation I 191 Peachtree Street, NE, Suite 2650 l Atlanta, GA 30303 l P: 404.653.0990 healthcaregeorgia.org

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