Improving Maternal, Infant, and
child health
Maternal, Infant, and
child health statistics are important for any community because of the
direct indicator of the effectiveness of the disease prevention and health
promotion services. Currently the United States is trying to lower maternal and
infant mortality rates. It is common knowledge that unintended pregnancies,
late or no prenatal care,
poor maternal
and child nutrition, maternal drug use, poverty, limited education, and
insufficient childcare combined with an inability to access health care
services are precursors for these high rates (McKenzie, Pinger, 2015).
We are
now aware that many of the risk factors can be prevented or reduced by early
interventions of educational programs and preventative medical services.
It is
important for communities to provide a positive environment that supports and
nurtures the emotional and physical needs of the family and helps to reduce the
need for costly medical and social assistance to these members of society now
and at later stages in life.
Baylor
College of Medicine news reports on April 29,2014 that researchers find
maternal nutrition before pregnancy leaves permanent marks on developing
child’s genome. This was first concluded by a 10 year long mouse study, which showed
that the maternal diet of mouse before and after pregnancy established
epigenetic changes and marks on the genome. At that time it was uncertain if
these effect would also occur in humans. Recently a team of researchers from
the USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of
Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital and the London School of Hygiene &
Tropical Medicine and Medical Research Council Unit started studying the
naturally occurring seasonal differences in diet and the nutritional status of
women in rural Gambia. They concluded that mother’s nutrition around the time
of conception causes epigenetic changes that permanently and systemically
impact their offspring (Pathak, 2014).
Neuroscience
is now proving that the onset of adult disease has its roots in fetal life,
(Mansoor, 2014) The health of your baby and the health the baby has through
it’s life is a representation of the maternal nutrition before, during, and
after pregnancy. Poor nutrition has shown effects on child’s liver, kidney, and
other developments as well as onset of disease such as diabetes, cancer, heart
disease, hypertension and mental disorders just to name a few.
The health
of our country is often considered on the health of the Maternal and Infant
populations (McKenzie, Pinger, 2015). Up until the past 10
years or so, Nutrition has not been a topic of much discussion other than for
weight loss. Since this time more health care professionals have become
specialized in the nutrition field and because of that more information is
being researched about the extensive benefits and effects nutrition has on the
prevention of disease, and overall health status of people.
With
most things, education makes a world of difference. A lot of the population is
unaware of the broad and all-encompassing effects nutrition has on the human
body. It takes the community to educate people on changes that can be made to
help them make better nutritional decisions and the health benefits because of
these choices. It is important for the communities to continue putting positive
efforts in disseminating nutrition and health education to the populations. This helps to educate parents on the current health risks as well as the statistics on Maternal and Infant Mortality and how their chooses can make a positive impact on not only their own but also their children's lives.
References:
McKenzie,
J., Pinger, R. (2015) An Introduction to
Community and Public Health (8th Ed.) Chapter 7 Maternal,
Infant, and Child Health, Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Pathak, D. (2014) Researchers
Find Maternal Nutrition Before Pregnancy Leaves Permanent Marks on Child’s
Genome, Baylor College of Medicine, Retrieved From
Mansoor, J. (2012) Effect
of Maternal Nutrition on the Growing Baby, Retrieved from
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