Maternal & Child Health

This report has been prepared by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), Office on Women's Health (OWH) and the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in concert with other HHS agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This report discusses activities and outcomes of HHS programs addressing the maternal health crisis.

This brief describes progress in the Child Welfare and Health Infrastructure for Linking and Data Analysis of Resources, Effectiveness, and Needs (CHILDREN) Initiative, which is entering its second year. At this time, four jurisdictions have been selected for participation in the CHILDREN Initiative and are engaging in feasibility studies to determine readiness for linking data.

This report presents the set of guiding principles for linking state Medicaid data with birth certificates that was developed by state and national experts and leaders. These guiding principles can be implemented to create a multistate linked database that researchers would be able to access and use for research on maternal health, including patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR).

This brief provides an overview of the important role Medicaid plays in postpartum maternal health, reviews states’ existing pregnancy-related Medicaid eligibility limits, and assesses the projected eligibility impact if all states were to provide 12 months of postpartum Medicaid eligibility. This Issue Brief updates a previous report that was originally published in December 2021.

Doulas provide emotional, physical, and informational support before, during, and after labor and birth.

This updated 2022 vignette provides examples of how a range of the Office of the Secretary Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (OS-PCORTF) cross-agency projects are working to improve maternal health by 1) Enhancing Women’s Health Data for Research 2) Adding Electronic Health Records to the Suite of Maternal Health Data for Research 3) Linking Maternal Survey Data with Other Health Data.

The Early Childhood Systems Collective Impact Project (ECS Collective Impact Project) will help to re-envision a truly coordinated approach to program implementation designed to advance equitable early childhood and family well-being outcomes across federal programs that support expectant parents, children ages 0 to 8, and their families.

Medicaid pays for nearly half of all births in the United States, including most births by Black and Hispanic pregnant population.

Nutrition assistance programs have been shown to increase children’s health and well-being and decrease the risk of child maltreatment. At the same time, food insecurity rose in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This practice guide is a resource for a broad range of human services programs aiming to be more inclusive of and responsive to fathers. Building on literature from the field and interviews with human services providers that engage fathers in services, this guide outlines strategies for advancing equity in human services programs: