Partnership to Optimize Equity in Maternal and Infant Health

孕产妇和婴儿健康状况不佳是长期存在的公共卫生问题，特别是在农村低收入有色人种社区。需要进行可持续的改进，以解决结构性障碍和政策，这些障碍和政策使边缘人口陷入得不到充分保健和母婴死亡率和发病率高的世代循环中。这一由社区主导的多部门伙伴关系寻求在密西西比三角洲的五个农村贫困县共同开展社区评估，以确定造成这些负面结果的结构性因素。随后，我们将制定、实施和评估一项结构性干预研究战略，以支持这些边缘化社区可持续地改善卫生公平。密西西比最大的社区非营利组织Delta Health Alliance与社区研究与评估中心（Center for Community Research and Evaluation）合作开展了这项研究，基于我们在大型和小型健康和社区参与研究方面的8年合作经验，该研究涵盖了与行为健康、慢性病、母婴家访、营养、COVID-19疫苗、还有少女怀孕。这项工作得到了广泛的合作伙伴的参与，包括当地从业人员、社会服务提供者、商业领袖、政策倡导者、信仰社区成员，以及由我们的目标人群代表组成的区域咨询小组成员，以捕捉并直接解决所有有关各方的关切。

Poor maternal and infant health outcomes are long-standing public health problems particularly in rural, low-income communities of color. Sustainable improvements are needed to address structural barriers and policies which have trapped marginalized populations in generational cycles of insufficient access to care and high rates of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. This community-led, multisectoral partnership seeks to jointly conduct a community assessment in five rural impoverished counties of the Mississippi Delta, to identify the structural factors that contribute to these negative outcomes. Subsequently we will then develop, implement and evaluate a structural intervention research strategy that will support sustainable health equity improvements in these marginalized communities. Delta Health Alliance, the largest community-based non-profit in Mississippi, has developed this study in partnership with the Center for Community Research and Evaluation, building upon our eight years of experience working together on large and small health and community-engaged research encompassing the full spectrum of qualitative and quantitative methods on projects pertaining to behavioral health, chronic disease, maternal and infant home visitation, nutrition, COVID-19 vaccinations, and teenage pregnancy. This effort is joined by a wide range of partners including local practitioners, social service providers, business leaders, policy advocates, members of faith-based communities, and members of a regional advisory group consisting of representatives of our target population – to capture and directly address the concerns of all parties of interest.