335353
Resource Mothers Improve Health Outcomes in the Dominican Republic
From: leslie [toledo.leslie@gmail.
Purpose:Resource Mothers (RM), community health workers trained in pregnancy and newborn education and community doula formation, identified pregnant teens in their community and mentored them throughout their pregnancies, deliveries, and one year following birth in order to decrease maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.
Data: Data are collected in questionnaires at four time points and entered into a cloud-based database.
Methods: in 2005, a cadre of 10 women were trained as Resource Mothers using a curriculum from the Virginia Department of Health program of the same name. In 2008 the cadre grew to 20 RMs serving ten under-resourced communities of Santo Domingo, DR. In 2014, 236 mothers aged 14-19 were enrolled in RM program and received mentorship during pregnancy and through one year after delivery. Over 650 teen mothers have completed the program since it began.
Results: In 2014, deliveries of low birth weight babies occurred at less than 11% while and premature births occurred at 19%, lower than national and international standards.
Recommendations/policy implications: Use of RM program combined with community doula training is an effective strategy to improve maternal and infant health outcomes in adolescent pregnancy in an under-resourced urban setting, and provides an opportunity for empowerment and growth of women who are trained through the RM program.
Learning Areas:
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programsLearning Objectives:
Explain experiential data on a community based public health intervention
Discuss lessons learned and explore areas for future study
Keyword(s): Advocacy, Community-Based Health
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a public health professional working in a global health non profit with over 10 tears of experience in maternal and child health programs operating in developing countries.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.