Written by Jennifer Kawatu, BSN, RN, MPH. Meg Sheehan MSN, CNM, MPH; and Clancy Bateman, MS, MPH
Recognizing complementary priorities in their unique partnership, the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) and the Office of Women's Health (OWH) will jointly fund the JSI-led Reproductive Health National Training Center (RHNTC). We worked together to provide this. RHNTC was founded in 2020 with the goal of providing reproductive health care professionals with the skills and knowledge they need to deliver high-quality services and programs. RHNTC provides training and technical assistance primarily to federally funded Title X family planning sites on how to integrate strategies to improve maternal health outcomes into sexual and reproductive health services. It offers. RHNTC helps address disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality by improving maternal health at the point of care.
OPA has a captive audience of implementers and potential beneficiaries. Title X customers are an ideal population to promote maternal well-being because they are generally of reproductive age. There is a great opportunity to prevent these problems that have a real impact on maternal health. –Meg Sheahan, RHNTC Clinical Consultant
In honor of National Women's Health Week, OWH is highlighting the unique challenges women face, including reproductive health, heart health, maternal mental health, gender-based violence, and eating disorders. Many of these issues remain highly stigmatized, and women often feel their concerns are ignored by health care providers or exposed to unconscious bias. This can lead to misunderstandings, people not getting the medical services they need, and, in the worst cases, missed diagnoses.
For example, consider postpartum health.Despite evidence that 53% of pregnancy-related deaths occur within 1 week to 1 year after pregnancy. [1], most efforts to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality focus on the prenatal and immediate postnatal periods. Sexual and reproductive health care providers may not be aware of opportunities for intervention. The national “Hear Her” campaign was designed specifically to raise awareness of urgent warning signs for mothers during and after pregnancy and to improve communication between patients and healthcare providers. . By simply asking, “Are you pregnant or have you been pregnant within the past 12 months?”, healthcare professionals can reduce the likelihood of missing postpartum warning signs that can lead to maternal death. I can.
RHNTC works with strategic partners to provide training and technical assistance (including free continuing education opportunities) to strengthen the intervention capacity of sexual and reproductive health organizations before and after pregnancy. For example, RHNTC has partnered with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to focus on high-impact practices that can help sexual and reproductive health providers address both the leading causes of maternal mortality and racial disparities in maternal health. Masu. In collaboration with Power to Decide, RHNTC has developed his two podcast series. One focuses on promoting reproductive well-being and sexual health equity in family planning care, and the other introduces a reproductive well-being framework. This framework aims to help healthcare providers improve patient-centered care and help clients decide when and under what circumstances to seek treatment. I am. I have a child. RHNTC also regularly engages with leaders in the field and patient advocates with lived experience to provide training on topics such as substance use disorders, heart disease, and reproductive justice.
Through joint funding from OPA and OWH, RHNTC is able to support Title X agencies' efforts to provide quality sexual and reproductive health services and improve maternal health. This important collaboration between two federal agencies has implications from the grantee level to community-based organizations providing sexual and reproductive health services. We have the power to address disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality by working together at multiple system levels toward common goals. Naomi Clemons, who provides training and technical assistance, said: Sexual and reproductive health outcomes are measures of maternal and child health outcomes. We understand that achieving optimal maternal health is complex. So the further upstream you can get, the better. It's also an opportunity to look at the continuum of care because Title ”
The Reproductive Health National Training Center (RHNTC), managed by JSI, is operated in collaboration with the Office of Population Affairs and the Office of Women's Health in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. RHNTC addresses the needs of Title X family planning service recipients and their teen pregnancy prevention recipients through training and technical assistance. Sign up for the RHNTC Newsletter to learn about upcoming events and new resources.
https://www.cdc.gov/reproductionhealth/maternal-mortality/erase-mm/data-mmrc.html
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