We need to change how (and for what) providers are paid, in order to support and incentivize equitable, high-quality primary care.
Spotlight on Success: Tewa Women United
The community-centered Yiya Vi Kagingdi Doula Project was created in response to a survey of women in the six Tewa-speaking pueblos and as one approach to mitigate violence against women, children, and Mother Earth. The program supports birthing people and their families with about three prenatal home visits, continuous support while giving birth, about three postpartum home visits, and lactation support, as well as remote support, all within a birth equity framework.
Spotlight on Success: Open Arms Perinatal Services
Open Arms Perinatal Services is an excellent example of how community-based doulas that provide an extended range of prenatal to postpartum care can dramatically improve the health of mothers and babies.
Spotlight on Success: Roots Community Birth Center
The Roots Community Birth Center demonstrates the exceptional value of community-based and -led forms of the birth center model for communities disadvantaged by structural racism, intergenerational underinvestment, and other forms of discrimination.
Spotlight on Success: Mercy Birthing Center
The Mercy Birthing Center illustrates the potential of a nourishing midwifery-led unit within a hospital. The center is a separate unit operated by CNMs within Mercy Hospital St. Louis. It was established in response to women’s growing interests in receiving support for physiologic childbearing.
Spotlight on Success: The Strong Start for Mothers and Newborns Initiative
The Strong Start for Mothers and Newborns Initiative was a federal five-year, multi-site project to test and evaluate enhanced prenatal care interventions for women enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) who were at risk for having a preterm birth. One of the first Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation initiatives, it launched in 2012 to test three models of enhanced prenatal care among Medicaid beneficiaries: birth centers, group prenatal care, and maternity care homes. Midwifery-led care in birth centers generated stellar results, whereas results of the other two care models were underwhelming.
Spotlight on Success: Commonsense Childbirth
Commonsense Childbirth is a midwifery-led practice in Orlando, Fla., that provides a range of clinical and support services to any pregnant person seeking care.
Lead Poisoning in Flint, Michigan
The water poisoning in Flint caused undeniable harm to residents’ reproductive health. Analyzing health records from 2008 to 2015, researchers found that fertility rates in Flint dropped by 12 percent and fetal deaths rose by 58 percent
Pollution in San Gabriel Valley, California
Over half a million Asian American people and 7,000 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander people live in the San Gabriel Valley. This 200 square mile area of Southern California is also home to rampant pollution.
Nitrate Contamination in San Joaquin Valley, California
San Joaquin Valley accounts for over half of California’s agricultural production and, as a result, has the highest rates of drinking water contamination in the state. Nitrates are a serious threat to public health and can cause severe health problems, such as blue baby syndrome and even death.
