Key points
- MCHEP helps public health agencies build applied epidemiology, data use, and evaluation capacity.
- MCHEP places senior ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø epidemiologists in state, local, and tribal public health agencies.
- MCHEP focuses specifically on building maternal and child health expertise.
- MCHEP provides mentoring to fellows, interns, and junior agency staff.
Who are we and what do we do
The Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Program (MCHEP) assigns ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø epidemiologists to state, local, and tribal public health agencies.
Over the past 40 years, epidemiologists have served more than 32 states, agencies, and organizations.1 These include CityMatCH, the US-Mexico Border Region, Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, and the Indian Health Service Epidemiology Office. ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø epidemiologists currently serve 8 state health departments.
MCHEP supports projects to improve maternal and child health (MCH) programs and data use, including improving equity and reducing disparities. These projects include:
- ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø-Harvard Program Evaluation Practicum.
- Tribal Epidemiology and the TEC Summit.
- Workforce Development in MCH.
- CityMatCH Leadership and MCH Epidemiology Conference.
MCHEP collaborates with:
- American Indian and Alaska Native organizations to improve reproductive, maternal, and child health.
- Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System Program to provide county-level data on MCH indicators.
- ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø to support the Hear Her® campaign to prevent pregnancy-related deaths by sharing potentially life-saving messages about urgent warning signs.
- Maternal Mortality Review Committees (MMRCs) to help states facilitate the collection and use of information on pregnancy-related deaths.
- States to implement the ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø Levels of Care Assessment ToolSM (LOCATe).
- Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (PQCs) to improve the quality of care for mothers and babies.
- The on the placement of MCH .
MCHEP's mission
Promote effective, equitable public health action to improve the health and well-being of women, children, and families by building epidemiology and data capacity and applying scientific information and principles to maternal and child health programs and policies
Goals
- Increase MCH epidemiology workforce capacity.
- Reduce inequities in maternal, fetal, infant, and child morbidity and mortality.
- Foster collaborations between public health and clinical care.
- Apply novel methods, respond to emerging MCH epidemiology needs, and support modernization of data systems.
- Kroelinger CD. Collaboration at the federal, state, and local levels to build capacity in maternal and child health: the impact of the Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Program. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2012;21(5):471-475. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2012.3488