Healthy Women, Healthy Babies

Jeffrey Levi, PhDExecutive DirectorTrust for America’s Health

General Overview After 40 years of improvements, infant

mortality rates in the U.S. have stalled since 2000.

Approximately 30 percent of women who give birth have some form of pregnancy complication.

In 2005, the annual costs (medical, educational and lost productivity) of preterm birth in the U.S. were at least $26.2 billion.

Health Disparities Significant disparities exist among ethnic and

racial groups in the U.S. In 2005, black babies were dying at twice the

rate of white infants in their first year of life AND

African American women had 13.6 low- birthweight babies per 1,000 births, compared to 7.3 low-birthweight babies per 1,000 births for white women.

What’s the reason for these poor birth outcomes? The health of childbearing aged women is starting to

get worse, especially among low-income women. Increasing evidence is showing that how healthy a

woman is before she becomes pregnant has a great impact on the health of the baby and whether there is an increased risk for infant death or birth defects.

Prematurity and low-birthweight rates are associated with health issues in the mother, such as diabetes, high blood pressure or obesity.

What can be done to address this problem? We must improve preconception health and health care for all

women of childbearing age, as nearly half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended.

Specifically, we can: Fully implement and enhance Medicaid policies and give states the

option to cover low-income adult women without needing a waiver. Fully fund other programs that provide primary care and other

services to women of childbearing, such as the Healthy Start Program, community health centers, Title X family planning and HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Block grant.

Make research on preconception health & health care a priority.

What can be done to address this problem?

We must also improve the environment in which we all live to ensure better access to venues for physical activity and nutritious foods.

As a nation, we tend to over-medicalize health problems. Given the state of today’s science, medicine can only address the consequences of poor health, not prevent it.

Real prevention requires changing the communities in we live and approaching this as a community-wide, not just an individual challenge.

What can be done to address this problem?

TFAH just released a new report, Prevention for a Healthier America, which examines how much the country could save by strategically investing in community disease prevention programs. 

It concludes that an investment of $10 per person per year in proven community-based programs to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, and prevent smoking and other tobacco use could save the country more than $16 billion annually within five years. This is a return of $5.60 for every $1.

Conclusion To improve the health of women, babies and all

Americans, we need a cultural shift, one in which healthy environments, physical activity and healthy eating become the norm. We know that even small changes can make a big difference in people’s health.

We need to build strong communities that provide all Americans with access to physical activity and nutritious options so that we can all make healthy choices.