Maternal and Child Health Assessment 2015
In 2015, the Minnesota Department of Health conducted a Maternal and Child Health Needs Assessment for the state of
Minnesota. Under the direction of a community leadership team, this assessment identified nine priorities for improving
the health of mothers, children, adolescents, pregnant women, infants, and children and youth with special health needs.
Working with stakeholders from across Minnesota, the leadership team identified specific areas of focus for each priority,
along with possible measurements, strategies, practices, and action recommendations. We understand that there are some
overlap among the nine priority areas; to avoid duplication, most areas of focus are only identified once, even though they
could be under multiple priorities. (For example, prenatal care is important for both Preventive Health Care and Healthy
Babies, but it is only listed under Healthy and Planned Pregnancy.)
These priority sheets were created to provide data and ideas for community members, policy makers, public health
professionals, and others working towards improving maternal and child health in Minnesota.
Priority: Increase Health of all Babies
Getting Minnesota's children off to a strong and healthy start: babies sleeping safe, receiving preventative care
complete with screening and good nutrition.
Focus areas:
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Infant mortality
Healthy birth weight
Safe sleep
Newborn screening and follow up
Breastfeeding
The Maternal Child and Health Assessment Leadership Team identified these specific action
recommendations to improve the health of all babies in Minnesota:
1. Develop and increase access to culturally responsive coordinated health care for all women during
preconception, pregnancy, and post-partum periods.
2. Promote and support breastfeeding through family home visiting and WIC programs across the state of
Minnesota, including the development of policies that promote breastfeeding in various settings (e.g. workplace,
educational institutions, health care centers).
3. Increase awareness of current policies and efforts in place to address the needs and concerns of families' with
chemically dependent individuals.
4. Create partnerships to address concerns related to keeping families together (e.g. fears related to mandated
reporting at clinical visits).
5. Reduce infant mortality rate and racial and ethnic disparities in infant death rates.
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Infant mortality
Objective: Reduce Minnesota’s overall infant mortality rate by 10 percent from 4.6 infant deaths for every 1,000 babies
born alive in 2010 to 4.1 by 2020. There were 68,783 live births in Minnesota in 2012. Infant mortality is more than 2x
higher for African Americans and American Indians, compared to Whites (MN Center for Health Statistics, 2012).
Chart 1: Infant Mortality Rate by Race/Ethnicity of Mother
Source: MN Center for Health Statistics, 2012. *LBW: < 2,500 grams; premature: <37 Weeks.
Measurements/outcomes regarding infant mortality:
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Infant mortality rate per 1,000 births.
Examples of strategies and practices to reduce infant mortality:
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Improve health equity and address the social determinants of health that most significantly impact disparities in
birth outcomes.
Provide comprehensive, culturally appropriate, coordinated health care to all women during the preconception,
pregnancy and post-partum periods.
Establish an ongoing task force of stakeholders to oversee implementation of recommendations and action steps.
Statewide tracking of specific birth conditions, providing support for children and families with identified birth
defects and evaluating statewide efforts to prevent birth defects.
Identifying women at risk for low birth weight births and connect early to primary care in key areas including
reproductive life planning, mental health screening, and management of chronic disease.
Increase access to neonatal abstinence prevention programs.
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Healthy birth weight
Objective: Decrease percentage of low birth weight births.
Chart 2: Percent of low birth weight births (less than
2,500 grams) , singletons
Chart 3: Percent of premature births (less than 37
weeks gestation), singletons
Source: MN Center for Health Statistics, 2013.
Low birth weight births among African Americans are 2x greater than Whites. Low birth weight is also higher for
American Indian, Asian, and Hispanic/Latinos compared to Whites.
Measurements/outcomes:
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Percentage of low birth weight, singleton births.
Examples of strategies and practices:
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Promote and increase access to prenatal care for pregnant women.
Promote the importance of healthy habits through preconception and interconception health care.
Women, Infant and Children Program (WIC).
Family Home Visiting utilizes evidence-based models, to promote the health of families.
Increase access to neonatal abstinence prevention programs.
Safe sleep
Objective: Eliminate infant death or injury related to unsafe sleep practices.
Chart 4: Percent of sleep-related infant deaths in MN by race/ethnicity (% of total number of infant deaths within
each race group)
Source: MN Center for Health Statistics, 2008-2012. *Can be any race.
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Measurements/outcomes for safe sleep:
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Percentage of infants placed to sleep on their backs.
Percentage of sleep-related infant deaths.
Examples of strategies and practices to promote safe sleep:
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Model safe sleep practices and promote breastfeeding in healthcare and other public settings.
Increase public awareness about Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID).
Provide professional education and training about SIDS/SUID/Safe sleep for providers.
Public campaigns on specifics of infant safe sleep practices, with culturally specific materials.
Newborn screening and follow up
Objectives:
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Increase the percent of infants receiving all recommended screens.
Improve systems for follow-up, reporting, and connection to services for infants identified by newborn screening.
Ensure children are screened and connected with clinical and other follow up services in a timely manner.
In 2013:
67,631
134
315
infants were screened out of
68,196 births registered
newborns with a disorder
were detected by blood spot
screening
newborns with hearing loss
were detected by hearing
screening
Source: MDH Public Health Laboratory Report, 2013
Measurement/outcomes to support newborn screening and follow up:
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Percentage of screened newborns (may include blood spotting and screening for hearing and congenital heart
defects).
Percentage of presumptive positive newborn screenings lost to follow up.
Decrease average wait time between identification of a concern and initiating follow up services.
Examples of strategies and practices to increase newborn screening and follow up.
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Focus on the developmental needs of all children across Minnesota (urban, suburban, and rural).
Promote education among families and communities about the importance of newborn screening; empower
families through training and support.
Support access to midwives and doulas in routine care in health care systems.
Systematic follow up after newborn screening, providing support for linking families to community and state
resources.
Early hearing detection and intervention, providing timely service for children to develop language skills.
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Breastfeeding
Objective: Increase the percent of babies who are exclusively breastfed for at least 3 months. The World Health
Organization states, “Breastfeeding is an unequalled way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development
of infants.”
Chart 5: Breastfeeding prevalence in Minnesota, 2011
Source: Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS): CPONDER.
Measurements/outcomes for breastfeeding promotion:
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Percent of mothers who ever breastfed or pumped breast milk for their new baby after delivery.
Percent of mothers offered a (insurance covered) visit with a lactation consultant.
Examples of strategies and practices to promote breastfeeding:
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Promote intergenerational transmission of healthy cultural practices such as breastfeeding.
Women, Infant and Children Program (WIC).
In 2013, the CDC developed Strategies to Prevent Obesity and Other Chronic Diseases: The CDC Guide to
Strategies to Support Breastfeeding Mothers and Babies, a resource to provide state and local community
members information to choose the breastfeeding intervention strategy that best meets their needs. The evidencebased interventions include:
o Maternity Care Practices
o Professional Education and Support
o Peer Support Programs
o Support for Breastfeeding in the Workplace
o Support for Breastfeeding in Early Care and Education
o Social Marketing.
Healthy Babies was or is an identified priority, focus, or goal of all of these reports, plans, and organizations:
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Maternal and Child Assessment Inquiry Feedback – MDH
2010 Title V National Performance Measure
2010 Title V State Performance Measure
2015 Title V National Performance Measure
Advisory Committee on Hereditable Disorders in Newborns and Children
Advancing Health Equity Report – MDH
CDC Healthy People 2020
Children’s Defense Fund – MN
Community Health Boards – MN
Eliminating Health Disparities Initiative – MDH
Healthy MN 2020: Statewide Health Improvement Framework
Infant Mortality Reduction Plan – MN
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Injury & Violence Prevention – MDH
March of Dimes
MN Children & Youth With Special Health Needs Strategic Plan 2013-2018
MN Council of Health Plans
MN Statewide Health Assessment 2012
Prenatal to Three Plan
Rural Health Advisory Committee
Women, Infant and Children
For more information about the 2015 Maternal and Child Health Assessment, or about the Title V Block Grant, please
visit the Minnesota Department of Health webpage at http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/cfh/na/ .
On the data charts above, all races are non-Hispanic ethnicity.
PO Box 64882, St. Paul, MN 55164-0882
651-201-3760
[email protected]
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/cfh/na/MCHNeedsAssessment.html
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