Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #100976

Alison Pierce Tolley, MPH, CHES¹, Nhuong (Jennifer) Lam², Nermina Silnovic², and Susan M. Pavlin, JD³. (1) March of Dimes, Georgia Chapter, 1776 Peachtree Street, NW, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30309, 404-350-9800 ext. 218, atolley@marchofdimes.com, (2) Refugee Family Services, Inc., 3647 Market Street, Clarkston, GA 30021, (3) Consultant, 1564 DeKalb Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30307

Background: Throughout the last decade, more than 45,000 refugees have relocated to Georgia from countries such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq, Somalia, and Vietnam. Refugee women are at high risk for poor pregnancy outcomes for multiple reasons, including low levels of education, low income, limited access to transportation, nutrition deficiencies, little exposure to healthcare, high birth rates and limited English proficiency.

Project: The March of Dimes, Georgia Chapter partnered with Refugee Family Services, Inc., to support their Maternal Health Initiative Program. The initiative provided prenatal education and case management to pregnant refugee women at their facility in Atlanta.

Results: Fifteen prenatal education workshops, including six maternity ward tours, were conducted reaching seventy-three women. The workshops covered topics, such as identifying and reducing risk factors, accessing medical care and government assistance, personal care and nutrition. The maternity ward tours greatly reduced the anxiety of delivering a baby in an American hospital. One hundred and seven women completed pregnancy risk assessments and were better able to take appropriate actions to ensure a healthy pregnancy. Forty-two women enrolled in the pregnancy case management program that included the following: (1) Development of a prenatal care plan and (2) Coordination of interpretation services and transportation for prenatal appointments and obtaining government assistance. Based on pre and post testing, home visits and 30 day follow-up evaluations, the refugee women were shown to have increased capacity to access healthcare and government services independently and increase their chances of delivering a healthy baby.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) will be able to

• Describe factors that place refugee women at high-risk for poor pregnancy outcomes.
• Describe effective strategies for reaching refugee women with prenatal health information.
• Analyze lessons learned from the Maternal Health Initiative to improve prenatal outreach to refugee populations.

Keywords: Refugees, Prenatal Interventions

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commertial supporters WITH THE EXCEPTION OF I am employed full-time by the March of Dimes as the Associate Director of Program Services for the Georgia Chapter. Refugee Family Services, Inc. received a grant from the March of Dimes, Georgia Chapter in the amount of $20,000 for the project..