High Rates Of Adverse Neonatal Outcomes

In addition to infant mortality, infant survivors of LBW and preterm delivery, often experience greater problems in childhood and adulthood. Some of these experiences include higher rates of respiratory illness, impaired growth, cognitive and emotional deficiencies, lower academic achievement and risk of hypertension, diabetes and mental health issues (Behrman and Butler, 2007, Conley and Bennett, 2000 and Raikkonen et al., 2007). The Center for Disease Control (CDC) report that African American pregnancies are at an elevated risk for poor birth outcomes. Figure 1. shows national birth outcomes for African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian pregnancies, as reported by the CDC in 2013:

In the Low Country area of South Carolina( Allendale, Bamberg, Hampton, and Orangeburg counties), African American women have been linked with low birth weight babies. Within the low country black babies are born at a low birth weight more frequently than babies of any other ethnic group. The Low Country Healthy Start program is designed to eliminate disparities in perinatal health and improve birth outcomes and quality of life in African American women. A process evaluation will be conducted in order to define the risk associated with chronic disease, recognize who is high risk, what services are provided by LCHS, who receive these services, and if the services provided are efficient.

Early prenatal care is extremely important for the future baby's health. Although prenatal care is funded by the Provincial and Federal Governement, not all women receive prenatal care on Prince Edward Island. This could be as simple as not being able to get transportation to

Only 71% of black and Hispanic women received prenatal care compared with 84% of White women.

In the United States, the process of childbirth is far more dangerous for African American women than it is for White women. For African American women, the path to a healthy birth is riddled with barriers. There are many health disparities between the two races. African American women face much higher low-birth and infant mortality rates; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published that although infant mortality rates in the U.S. have dropped by over 10% in the past ten years, a large gap continues to exist between the health of the races during the entire childbirth process. (World Health Organization, 2010) In the United States, Black infants are more than twice as likely to die within the first year of life as a White infant, and this disparity has not seen advancements in the last century. Many of these deaths can be attributed to low birth weight, and preterm birth among black infants.

of HIV infections among Aboriginals, considering infection rate is as high as 3.8% of Canada’s

Also, for reasons that are still being investigated in public health, poorer pregnant women are much more likely to be diagnosed with labor-inducing bacterial infections such as bacterial vaginosis or chorioamnionitis (inflammation of the fetal membrane) (Allsworth & Peipert, 2007; Dammann, Leviton, & Allred, 2000). In a study sample of over 3,700 women who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the prevalence of bacterial vaginosis was higher in pregnant women who were living at (34%) or below (37%) the federal poverty level compared to those who were living above it (24%) (Allsworth & Peipert, 2007). Additionally, pregnant women in lower SES communities have been found to suffer from more chronic healthcare care conditions such as hypertension and diabetes which are highly associated with preterm birth and small gestational size (Nagahawatte & Goldenberg,

Women have accounted for 12.5% of all positive HIV test reports in Toronto since 1985. 48% of all infections among women in Toronto have been among women from countries with high rates of HIV”.

Due to cesarean section, it is proven that c-section birth causes infants to be at greater risk of developing a host of illnesses such as, asthma, type 1 diabetes, as they progress and grow older; As Australia has one of the highest c-section rates in the world with now at 32% of the population having a cesarean birth (s. McCulloch, 2018). Indigenous mothers are more likely to experience more long-term issues and even perinatal death compared to the 0.7% of non-aboriginal and non-Torres Strait islander mothers (The Department of Health, 2011).

The data was formulated utilizing measurements evaluation that was retrieved for the utilization of the investigation. The results of the investigation confirmed that there were approximately 31,000 infant births in the city of Richmond during the ten year frame of time with 361 deaths of low birth newborn babies. African American attributed to 63% of births in the city with 77% of the deliveries being low birth weight or untimely (Archer, Munn and Masho 2016).

After revising the key terms, additional searches were made using both CINAHL and MEDLINE databases, with each article being evaluated and better search mechanisms being applied. In this search the key words preterm AND aboriginal women were used with the result being relatively successful, however there were still a number of articles that were not all applicable. I then decided to go through each article and critique how each study was conducted and what information it could provide to increase my knowledge on the factors that affect preterm birth. Additionally I also looked at which articles provided the highest level of evidence using NHMRC guidelines, as well as observing the number of people who had cited the source (National Health and Medical Research Council, 2015). Being more specific in database searches was a skill that became vital in the search process (Symmons, 2013). For example, I also chose synonyms such as, ‘neonatal outcomes’ and ‘premature pregnancy’ so articles relevant to preterm birth could be discovered. By establishing effective search terms, evaluating the reliability of the source, restricting

Looking through the theme of Development Issues of women and health on women’s health, specifically empowerment of women and improving maternal health, I focus on the mothers2mothers organization. These constraints are being limited for the sake of this paper to the stigma of HIV positive mothers and the discriminatory medical services that are then placed on HIV positive mothers in South Africa. This raises the problem of mothers identifying as HIV positive in South Africa as they are then being stigmatized, therefore I will be asking, how does the organization takes steps in order to help protect the women from stigmitation as they are in the prevent[ion] mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) program? Analyzing the constraints of participation of HIV positive mothers leads to the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS infection, the lack of women’s empowerment, and the deficiency of appropriate and culturally sensitive clinical support services, even in facilities providing PMTCT services, means that many women go through their ordeal alone, confused and afraid.

I chose this topic because 70% of our patients that come into our hospital are the African-American community. Infant mortality in this community is higher compared to others. My paper is geared towards to the improvement of infant mortality and have come up with several approaches to this problem. First and foremost the rate of pregnancies

The article critiqued was entitled Racial/Ethnic Differences in Correlates of Spontaneous and Medically-Indicated Late Preterm Births among Adolescents by M. Tabet MS, S. Jakhar MD, C.A. Williams MPH, U. Rawat MPH, Y.D. Hailegiorgis MPH, L.H. Flick DrPH, and J.J. Chang PhD, 2017. The article provided an abstract that was accurate, concise, and readable. The problem that is identified in this article is spontaneous and medically-indicated late preterm birth (LPTB), defined as deliveries between 34 0/7 and 36 6/7 weeks gestation, among U.S. adolescents (M. Tabet et al., 2017). The purpose of the study is to investigate the racial/ethnic differences that correlation to spontaneous and medically-induced LPTB among adolescents (M. Tabet et al.,

While some women who received no prenatal care had normal, uncomplicated births, others did not. Most of the women who did not receive adequate prenatal care gave birth to an underweight and underdeveloped infant. Among the benefits of early, comprehensive prenatal care are decreased risk of preterm deliveries and low birth weight (LBW)-both major predictors of infant morbidity and mortality. (Dixon, Cobb, Clarke, 2000). Preterm deliveries, deliveries prior to 37 weeks of gestation, have risen. Since the studies in 1987, which showed the rate of preterm deliveries as 6.9% of births, the 1997 rate shows an increase to 7.5%. Low birth weight, defined as an infant weighing less than 2500 grams (5lbs. 5oz) is often preceded by preterm delivery. Low