National Public Health Week April 5, 2023
Theme: Reproductive and Sexual Health
When people receive quality reproductive and sexual health care, education, and access,
they can fulfill a happier and healthier life. A lack of inclusive and accessible
reproductive and sexual health care and education negatively affects everyone, but
marginalized communities carry a greater burden of harm. Black women are three times
more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women.
Dr. Daniel Edney, Mississippi State Health Officer, has identified one of his top
priorities as reduction in maternal mortality in Mississippi. There were 41 maternal
deaths in Mississippi in 2021. We need to all work together to make maternal mortality
ZERO in our state. There are several programs in place to help, and more are under
development, as we heard Dr. Edney say last week at the MPHA Annual Conference. All
of them are evidence-based. Some examples of the programs already in place include:
• The Mississippi Perinatal Quality Collaborative (MSPQC) partners
with the Alliance for Innovation in Maternal Healthcare (AIM) to
implement the Obstetric Hemorrhage Initiative (OHI), Hypertension & Heart
Initiative, and the Initiative to Support Vaginal Births (Cesarean Reduction)
throughout Mississippi since 2016. These are examples of straightforward sets of
evidence-based practices that, when performed collectively and reliably, have
been proven to improve patient outcomes.
• Healthy Moms/Healthy Babies of Mississippi is a maternal and infant
health support program working with families and communities to help ensure
that all Mississippi moms and babies have safe birthing experiences and healthy
infant development. The program goals are to decrease preterm births; improve
maternal health; decrease infant mortality; and, support infant physical and
mental development.
• On March 16, 2023, Governor Tate Reeves signed postpartum Medicaid
extension (SB 2212) into law. This new law, which extends postpartum
Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months, will help ensure that women have
access to post-partum care. It is important for all MPHA members and our
partners to ensure that eligible women know about this provision and take
whatever steps they need to take to extend their coverage. This law goes into
effect July 1, 2023.
• One of MPHA’s conference sponsors, Converge, is bringing reproductive health
care to more Mississippians. Now, anyone across the state, regardless of their
insurance status can get the care they need for free or low-cost. GetPersonal is a
telehealth service offered by Converge in partnership with Twentyeight Health to
ensure no Mississippian will go without access to birth control and other
reproductive health services because they’re unable to make an in-person visit to
a doctor’s office. GetPersonal allows a patient to meet with a provider via a
computer, phone, or tablet and get the care they need from wherever they are
most comfortable.
Schedule a Telehealth visit or order a free reproductive health kit at
Personally.care/GetPersonal. Coming mid-April 2023! See the attached flyer for
more information and share it with others.
MPHA stands ready to support the health department and our other partners in
innovative, evidence-based initiatives to ensure that women get access to the
reproductive and sexual care they need to be healthy and to have healthy families.
For more information, see www.msdh.ms.gov; https://msphi.org/what-we-do/;
https://convergeaccess.org/
https://mpha2.wildapricot.org/resources/National Public Health Week April 5.pdf