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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Patrick S. Simpson, MPH1, Vera Haynatzka, PhD1, Cynthia Phillips, MSW, MPH2, and William M. Sappenfield, MD, MPH3. (1) Department of Pediatrics, CityMatCH at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, 982170 University Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-2170, (402) 56- 7500, psimpso1@unmc.edu, (2) National Association of County and City Health Officials, 1100 17th St., NW 2nd floor, Washington, DC 20036, (3) Reproductive Health, CDC, 4770 Buford Hwy K-23, Atlanta, GA 30341
Purpose: To assess the issues and capacity of local health departments to address racial and ethnic health disparities for mothers and children in their jurisdiction.
Methods: CityMatCH and NACCHO joined efforts to survey LHD directors on national MCH priorities, including racial and ethnic health disparities. All CityMatCH members were surveyed (n=149) with all other local health departments randomly sampled based on CityMatCH membership and jurisdiction size.
Results: Of the 828 surveys mailed, 313 health departments responded for a 38% overall response rate. Response rate varied by CityMatCH membership: 83% for CityMatCH members and 29% for non-members. Incentives were offered by CityMatCH to increase response rate. Results of the survey included:
§ The top three racial and ethnic health disparities for women, children and families targeted by LHD's were infant/maternal health issues, access to care, and chronic and communicable disease.
§ 77% of large LHD's reported addressing racial and ethnic health disparities as a high priority.
§ LHD's reported strong or adequate preparedness in the areas of community relations (57%) and customer satisfaction (58%). Overall, 74% were not adequately prepared to address institutional racism.
§ Larger health departments had capacity in: evaluation (52%), policy development (57%), community planning (61%), strategic planning (62%), data and epidemiology (68%), program development (71%), agency leadership (77%), and coalition planning (78%).
Conclusions: Large health departments rank addressing racial and ethnic health disparities as a priority. However, many are unprepared and lack adequate capacity to address these important issues, especially around institutional racism
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Maternal and Child Health,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.