Healthy People
Consortium Meeting and Public Hearing Maternal, Infant, and Child Health |
| Attendants:
More than 30 representatives from universities, partner organizations, professional
associations, federal, state and local government were present. Overall, this was a very active discussion group with diverse areas of interest and viewpoints. Since this chapter is very large, the facilitator led the discussion on each objective separately. The participants were informed about changes from the HP2000 chapter, as well as the background issues pertaining to each objective. Inclusion of the word "child" in the title without sufficient content is a major issue for the chapter, since child health was not part of the charge to the workgroup that developed the objectives. It was suggested that arrangement of the chapters should take on a life stage approach and the MIC chapter should be placed more towards the beginning of the total document to signify the importance of the beginning of the life cycle. It was suggested that since the overall document lacks attention on children with special health care needs, there should be a stronger focus in this chapter. The issues of early hospital discharge after delivery and home visiting were discussed. Issue of early hospital discharge and newborn screening was discussed. Suggestion was made to develop an objective on assessing intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR) , in addition to the proposed gestational duration objective. There should be more information on this important measure of perinatal health. The objective would include targets for the proportion of infants who are Small for gestational age (SGA), Appropriate for Gestational Age(AGA), and Large for Gestational Age (LGA). It was suggested that autism be included in the disability related objective. For the objective on prepared child birth class, it was suggested that partners be included in the objective to convey the importance of male participation. It was suggested that a subobjective to measure maternal transport prior to delivery be developed for the objective on the proportion of very low birthweight infants born at Level III hospitals. For the objectives related to hearing loss and early screening, it was suggested that the targets for hearing loss be modified to clarify mild to profound hearing loss; and a clause on referral to diagnostic and treatment services be included on objective 12-38. Data issues: The predominant data source for this chapter has been vital statistics. There were lengthy discussions about potential data sources to cover the 38 proposed objectives. It was noted that almost half of the objectives do not have a data source at this time. The possibility of adding on items to the new birth certificate was proposed and discussed. Due the lengthy and diverse discussions during this session, the facilitator requested that all comments requiring action be submitted in writing to ensure consideration in the revision process. Partial List of Participants (those who signed in) Phil Ziring, American Academy of Pediatrics *Facilitator |
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