Friday, January 17, 2025
1/17/2025
Minnesota has grown a strong state biomonitoring program through participation in the CDC’s LRN-C laboratory network since 2003, state legislation passed in 2007, and recent support from the CDC’s State-Based Public Health Laboratory Biomonitoring Programs cooperative agreement. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) launched the Healthy Kids Minnesota (HKMN) Program in 2021, a statewide biomonitoring program focused on children’s environmental exposures and health equity. The program is a culmination of years of laboratory and epidemiology methods development and a strategic planning process that identified young children and those experiencing an unequal burden of exposure as critical focus populations for biomonitoring. Results are used to assess population exposures, identify disparities, and inform actions needed to ensure a healthy start for all Minnesota children. Relying on partnerships with school districts, local public health agencies, and tribal nations to recruit children through Early Childhood Screening (ECS) appointments, HKMN has recruited over 1,200 children, achieving participation rates of 55-75%, and measuring urine samples for six categories of chemicals and over 70 analytes. We have established partnerships with over twenty local agencies; mailed over 1,500 results packets to; and followed up with families of 65 children whose results were above our follow-up threshold to offer interventions and support in reducing their child’s exposure. HKMN moves to different regions of the state in a five-year cycle. Three of the five program years are nearly complete. We propose to complete the two remaining years of the five-year statewide HKMN cycle (Strategy B). We will use population-based recruitment methods that focus recruitment on groups that may experience health inequities related to chemical exposure, including preschool-aged children, rural populations in the Northwest/West Central and Southwest/South Central regions of the state, and school districts with higher proportions of children from racial/ethnic minority and lower income groups. We will measure urine samples for the six chemical categories included previously in HKMN with the addition of new pesticide analytes of concern in the rural regions. We will communicate results to all families in an informative and accessible manner and offer special follow-up and support for exposure reduction to families of children whose results exceed thresholds for certain analytes. This strategy will allow the program to reach all regions of the state and make this unique opportunity available to families along with interventions to reduce childhood exposures. In addition, we propose to work with the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, a tribal nation in northern Minnesota and former HKMN partner, to take a different community-based approach to recruitment of children (Strategy A). In HKMN 2022, we learned that the standard HKMN recruitment model was not an effective approach for this community and likely for other tribal nations as well. We will be guided by our Bois Forte partner in taking the lessons learned and re-designing the recruitment strategy with a greater emphasis on community engagement before recruitment begins. This strategy will make the program more accessible to families in this community and provide a path to work with tribal nations moving forward. This award will allow MDH to leverage our extensive biomonitoring experience and partnerships to successfully complete the statewide cycle of HKMN and find a more successful recruitment approach in the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa tribal nation. We will be able to focus on community and stakeholder engagement to share results and take action to reduce exposure disparities in our state. And, with statewide results, we will be able to effectively communicate the program’s impact to secure ongoing, sustainable funding for state biomonitoring.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).