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Healthy Start - improving MCH in Allegheny County

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The mission of Health Start is to improve maternal and child health and to reduce poor birth outcomes and infant mortality in Allegheny County. 

The Greater Pittsburgh Region, like most of the United States, faces disparate health outcomes, where Black mothers and babies die at higher rates than mothers and babies of other races. These health outcomes, which persist across socioeconomic backgrounds, are a direct result of systemic racism. 

"Many of the communities where we focus our work are under-resourced, with barriers to access to quality health care, lack of affordable housing, high quality childcare, broken education systems, sporadic public transportation, and underemployment," said Chief Executive Officer Jada Shirriel. "Many of these communities are also food deserts. We call all of these factors social determinants of health, and this is our focus."

Shirriel continually examines Healthy Start programming to make sure that it meets the evolving needs of the families in our region by listening to the experiences of front-line staff and providing developmental opportunities for the team so that they may best serve the community. "I work with my board, and with the support of many local and national funders, to ensure that we have the resources to operate. As a community-based organization, we seek to establish strong partnerships with other organizations and with community members."

Healthy Start and Pitt Public Health currently partner directly or are involved in a myriad of common projects, including establishing a local Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Committee, working with Pitt Medicine on health equity and antiracist curricula, and working with other local partners on maternal and child health systems change and data sharing initiatives.

 



2/17/2021
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