Virginia Taking Steps to Improve Maternal and Child Health Outcomes
This month, Virginia is observing Maternal Health Awareness Month by setting aside the month to bring attention to the need to improve the health of babies and their mothers. While Virginia has made progress, cases of adverse maternal and birth outcomes are high, and are rising for Black women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2021, Black women were three times more likely to die from pregnancy related causes than White women. Poor health outcomes are caused by several factors such as lack of care coordination, limited access to health care, nutrition, and challenges with managing chronic diseases.
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) recently unveiled a Maternal and Child Health data dashboard. The dashboard displays metrics on preterm births, birth weight, infant mortality, prenatal care, and maternal smoking, and is sortable by year, health district, locality, and race/ethnicity. The dashboard will help VDH monitor the health of communities which will result in the agency and its partners creating or enhancing programs and initiatives aimed at improving maternal and child health outcomes.
Last month, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an Executive Order to reestablish the Task Force on Maternal Health Data and Quality Measures. The effort involves partnerships with agencies, organizations, and individuals focused on maternal and child health. The Task Force will bring these partners together to review data collection processes and provide recommendations that will help to improve our ability to track state performance and identify areas for intervention, with the goal to address those differences in maternal outcomes.