April is National Minority Health Month
A Healthy Baby Begins with You Is OMH's Call for National Minority Health Month

The HHS Office of Minority Health has chosen A Healthy Baby Begins with You as the theme for its work during National Minority Health Month in April. OMH invites State and local governments and offices of minority health to organize events and put forth proclamations to bring due attention to this issue.

"If we can't save our babies, nothing else matters," said Dr. Garth Graham, deputy assistant secretary for minority health. "The high rates of infant mortality in the African American community, with some cities having rates almost four times that of white babies, are one of the worst symptoms of health disparities, and we need to address these forcefully," he said.

OMH recently launched its campaign A Healthy Baby Begins with You, to create awareness of risk factors and help reduce high infant mortality rates among African Americans. It is also intended to stimulate awareness of the local and national resources available to mothers and children to reduce infant deaths in the African American community. The national infant mortality rate is defined as deaths per 1,000 live births among infants up to the age of one year. Among African American babies, the rate is 13 per 1,000 live births, which is more than twice the rate for the U.S. population as a whole.

Tonya Lewis Lee, author, producer and wife of filmmaker Spike Lee, is the national spokesperson for the Healthy Baby campaign.

"I am thrilled to be a part of this national dialogue to end infant mortality in this country," Lee said. "We have been complacent too long about the number of African American women who have experienced the death of their children from sudden infant death syndrome, premature birth and low birth weight."

While bringing the campaign to different cities around the nation, and listening to health professionals, researchers and community members, Graham said that OMH has realized that prenatal care and a healthy regimen of nutrition and exercise are essential to good birth outcomes, but the health of the women even before they became pregnant is extremely important for good birth outcomes.

"This says something very simple to us: a healthy baby really does begin with you!" said Dr. Graham. "An infant mortality prevention campaign is actually about the health of a community as a whole. It speaks about access to quality prenatal and postnatal care, improved living conditions, healthy and united families, healthy habits, and prevention of risky behaviors."

During this year's National Minority Health Month, OMH will focus on how our minority communities prepare themselves to welcome their babies.

OMH invites communities to host A Healthy Baby Begins with You events during the month and throughout the year, and will list events to be listed on its web site, www.omhrc.gov. The web site also has materials to help communities organize their events.

"This campaign is part of a broader National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities that OMH has introduced to combat health disparities in all communities," said Dr. Graham. "We are pleased to work with all of our partners to help bring an end to preventable infant deaths."

A Healthy Baby Begins with You Campaign
http://www.omhrc.gov/templates/browse.aspx?lvl=2&lvlID=117