Infant Mortality Rate and 1 more... less...

All Cabarrus County residents have access to quality health care.

Cabarrus County Infant Mortality Rate- All

Current Value

5.1

2021

Definition

Line Bar

Story Behind the Curve

Contributing Factors: (i.e., Factors that move the curve in the desired direction)

Education/Pre-natal Care: Early and continual education for the duration of the pregnancy to identify need for resources (food, housing, medical treament); access to pre-natal care to identify health concerns and begin addressing them before they become an issue.
Prevention: Management of chronic and other conditions for the mother before pregnancy, during pregnancy and post-partum. Her improved health can reduce the possibility of infant complications after birth. Having a care plan in place for the infant if they have been identified to be at higher risk.
Newborn Screenings: Conducting newborn screenings to identify any hidden health conditions

Restricting Factors: (i.e., Factors that prevent the curve from moving in the desired direction)

Insurance Status/Lack of Insurance: A mother's insurance status and lack of access to health services can prevent her from seeking and obtaining the recommended preventative care measures before becoming pregnancy and also while pregnant. This in turn can lead to poor health and lack of pre-natal care.
Substance-use and Stigma: If a mother is using substances while pregnant, she may fear seeking the care she and her child need.
Poor health: not addressing health conditions that lead to complicated pregnancies such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure can prevent a woman from having a healthy pregnancy.

Anticipated Factors: (i.e., Factors that influence the forecast part of the trendline)

Political Climate: If certain services are illegal to perform in a state, such as abortions, this can affect the infant mortality rate. Politics and legislature also can have an affect on access to preventative services and education.
Parameters of 'infant mortality rate': a state may change the parameters of what ages are considered as 'infant' and this in turn can affect metrics.

Additional Research: (i.e., Additional research needed to surface root causes)

Disparities: Are there disparities among racial or ethnic groups that should be focused on? In Cabarrus County, disaggregated data shows African American women have higher rates of infant mortality than other races.
Change in Reporting of measures: Focusing attention on 2018, what occurred specifically that the rate jumped significantly higher. Was there really such a jump in infant mortality or was there a change in the reporting rquirements?
Trends in Surrounding Counties: Is Cabarrus County the only county in Region 4 of NC reporting these results? What is the average for other counties in Region 4? Surrounding counties show higher rates on average.

Partners

SUN Clinic: The SUN Clinic serves pregnant mothers who are undergoing MAT (Medication Assisted Treatment) treatment. Assuring and assessing needs and continuation of this program will help to decrease rate of infants at risk.
Atrium/Novant Healthcare System: Main Hospital system in Cabarrus County- identify, treat and follow-up with expecting mothers and provide services to infants in distress.
WIC: Distribution of education due to frequent contact with pregnant and post-partum mothers.
Cabarrus DDS: identifying and addressing concerning situations for expecting mothers; removing infants from concerning environments and situations.
Women's Health and Pediatrics Practices: identify, treat and follow-up with expecting mothers.
Gate Pregnancy Center: provide resources such as food, shelter, etc for women who are pregnant and experiencing abuse in the home

What Works

Research/Evidence-Based Practices: (i.e., Evidence-based practices that may move the curve in the desired direction)

Universal Home Visits: having women participate in universal home visits has shown to increase health outcomes of both the child and the mother.
Doula Services: Mothers with access to Doula services pre and post pregnancy have better health outcomes due to the one on one interaction and access with a specialized individual.
Free Community Programming Directed at Expecting Mothers: community facing programs such as CMRC and CMHRP have been shown to increase acess to resources and education in order to reduce unhealthy pregnancies.

Low Cost/No Cost Solutions: (i.e., Resourceful solutions that may move the curve in the desired direction)

Supportive Breastfeeding Policies in the workplace: Allowing mothers to breastfeed during work hours to support breastfeeding for infants.
Focus Groups with Expecting Mothers: Identifying needs and concerns of expecting mother to create action plans
Missed appointment follow-up: immediate follow-up to reschedule missed pre-natal appointment. Attempt to schedule mother the week after the missed appointment.

Off-the-Wall Ideas (or Innovations): (i.e., "Outside the box" solutions that broaden our thinking on what may be possible)

Public Housing Collaboration: collaboration with city/county government's housing sector to provide resources such as housing to expecting mothers in need.
Social Norms Marketing Campaign: releasing social media posts on Instagram, Facebook, etc to highlight and promote prevention efforts as well as bring awareness to the issue.

Additional Research: (i.e., Additional research needed to help surface new ideas that will help turn the curve)

Disagregating Data by Race: disaggregating this data by race will help to identify any disparities among specific groups.
Disaggregating Data by Cause of Death: disaggregating data by cause of death to identify any potential patterns or circumstances around the death of the infant. This can help identify any additional areas for further education and prevention services.

Strategy

Focus Groups: Focus groups geared towards new, post-partum mothers to provide education, counceling, resources, etc. New mothers will have a support system with other members as well as the facilitator. Partners needed will be Clinic Staff/facilitators (CHA staff, local hospital staff, community programming staff).
Medicaid Expansion: Supporting medicaid expansion in states that have not already done so such as North Carolina. Some working mothers fall into the Medicaid Gap and make too much to qualify for Medicaid and too less to qualify for health insurance and thus do not receive the healthcare services that they need to have a healthy pregnancy. Partners involved will include local city/county government, public support, local businesses, advocacy groups, local representatives in office, county residents, CHA communications team, and CHA staff.
Expansion of Newborne Post-Partum home visits/programming: Expanding post-partum programming will allow for new mothers to have frequent interaction with health care provider in their homes. This will help with regular check-ins for the infant to address any underlying health conditions as well as regularly monitor them to assess overall well-being. Also the mother will have increased education and support system. Partners needed are CHA clinic staff, potential partnership with local hospital for staffing purposes.

Population Indicator

A measure that helps quantify the achievement of a result.

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