Part 2: Consumer Advocacy & Evidence-Based Infant Feeding Practices

Here’s the second “installment” for my upcoming presentation at the March 2-3 Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon’s 5h Annual Meeting. Blue text indicates information that will be placed on PowerPoint slides, black text indicates what will be said. I’d love your feedback either here or via email at motherbabynetwork@gmail.com. Read the first installment This installment covers [...]

Lane Co’s High Fetal-Infant Loss = Lost Economic Investment

Recently I was listening to Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal interview a Russia-based NPR health correspondent about the intersection between health and economic prosperity. Much of their discussion applies nicely to Lane County’s poor perinatal outcomes and our prospects for future economic growth and diversification. Russia, like Lane County, faces a number of complex public health issues [...]

Maternity Act – doing right by pregnant women and babies, everyone benefits

Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, bipartisan efforts aren’t dead in Washington, D.C. Just before Thanksgiving, Congressman Elliot Engel (D-NY) and Congresswoman Sue Myrick (R-NC) filed the Partnering to Improve Maternity Care Quality Act of 2010 (MCQA). This act begins the necessary work to remove the multiple, interlocking barriers separating women and babies from effective [...]

Considering maternal mortality in Lane County

Yesterday, I attended the UO Women’s Law Forum discussion of maternal mortality. Among the invited speakers was certified nurse midwife Hilary Prager from the PeaceHealth Birth Center. Anyone remotely interested in or familiar with maternal and infant well being knows US rates are significantly higher than those in other developed and developing countries. Recently, Amnesty [...]

Lane Co. Fetal-Infant Mortality Coalition Coordinator Leaving

Healthy Babies, Healthy Communities, Lane County’s coalition to reduce fetal and infant mortality rate, recently learned its coordinator, Sandy Moses, has taken another position within Lane County Public Health. Coalition members have been assured of a replacement to continue in Moses’ place. This and continued staff and funding resources for the Fetal Infant Mortality Review [...]

Latest Lane Co. Fetal-Infant Mortality Data

Lane County has an unacceptably high rate of fetal-infant mortality. The overall rate is higher than the state rate and higher than comparable counties and metropolitan areas. Until recently, it was also higher than the national average. See a rate comparison graph here. Improving on the national rate is a positive development but it should [...]

Lane County’s unnecessarily high fetal-infant mortality rate

“Infant mortality is the most sensitive index we possess of social welfare.” – Julia Lathrop, Children’s Bureau, 1913 Why are so many Lane County babies dying? In 2007, the Lane County Public Health Department issued a special report devoted to this question. Soon, additional fetal-infant mortality data will be reported to the Healthy Babies, Healthy [...]