Community Level Innovations for Preventing Maternal and Infant Deaths - Arkansas has high rates of maternal and infant death, especially in rural counties like the Delta region where there is a higher percentage of Black residents. People of color in the Delta face disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality, preterm birth, and pregnancy-related complications compared to their white peers. Arkansas’ statewide newspaper cites maternal mortality rates as “graceful,” elaborating that as of March 2024, the state had the highest maternal mortality rate in the nation, at 8.6 deaths per 100,000 live births, which is higher than the national average of 5.4. Arkansas had the third-highest infant mortality rate in the nation in 2022, with 7.67 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.
It is common for pregnant individuals to travel long distances to access perinatal care in the Arkansas. This lack of healthcare facilities poses many challenges and hampers continuity of care, preventive interventions, and access to emergency services during childbirth. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported that most women in rural America live over 30-minutes away from a hospital or obstetric services facility. Given the critical situation with maternal and infant deaths in Arkansas, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) BioVentures chose these two leading health indicators (LHIs) for the proposed project, Delta Maternal Outreach and Transformational Health Education Resource (Delta MOTHER). Social determinants of health to be addressed in Delta MOTHER include Social and Community Context and Health Care Access and Quality.
The goal of Delta MOTHER is to create community-level health initiatives that lead to a reduction of maternal and infant mortalities among Black women in the Arkansas Delta through education, training, outreach, and preventative health services. Objective 1 is to increase use of maternal and infant health-related preventive health services among Black families in the Delta through community level innovations. Each project year, services will reach ≥200 families and resource lists will be shared with ≥300 participants. Objective 2 is to improve health outcomes as measured by progress toward lowering maternal and infant deaths among Black women and infants in the Delta. Results will include increased healthcare provider knowledge and increased confidence in delivering healthcare supported through a provision of ≥100 hours of continuing education credits each project year. Participants will be more empowered to access early prenatal care, demonstrating an increase in maternal-child knowledge as measured through surveys. Objective 3 is to reduce SDOH-driven health disparities by increasing social and community support made for the Delta’s Black community and increase access to high-quality health services. Two partners from each targeted community will be secured to stage at least two preventative healthcare screenings and outreach events yearly in each location. The steering committee guiding this program’s efforts will include members of the Delta’s Black community and project partners. Historically Black College and University students will identify LHI-focused healthcare needs per community and work with local minority business owners to craft solution(s) to address identified needs. Each project year, Delta MOTHER will provide ≥ 4 healthcare provider educational presentations live and online, ≥ 6 community outreach and education events that include preventive healthcare screenings, launch four provider and one patient online education module, and assess availabilit
y of ≥ two relevant providers or healthcare organization per community.
BioVentures will coordinate with leaders from the UAMS Institute for Digital Health and Innovation and Academic Pathways and Workforce Partnership Division to lead Delta MOTHER through engagement of three grant-funded satellite telehealth resource centers at Lake Village, Helena-West Helena, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
