Maternal Health Awareness Day was earlier this week, providing us with an excellent time to update you on the work we are doing with others to make New Jersey the safest and most equitable place in the nation to give birth and raise a baby.
As many of you know, the Quality Institute released the Maternity Action Plan (MAP) in July of last year. The MAP provides specific steps to implement and accelerate the goals of Nurture NJ and address New Jersey’s maternal health crisis and racial inequities.
Our next step is hosting four working sessions that focus on each section of the MAP. The work sessions will identify work already in motion on each area, increase awareness of that work as well as the opportunities and barriers for advancement. Invited organizations will share the areas they are interested in working on, their needs, and what resources or expertise they can contribute. These work sessions are part of the on-the-ground action taking place to improve birth equity and make giving birth safer in New Jersey.
The work to implement the MAP is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). “RWJF is pleased support the creation of the MAP and is eager to see it used as a roadmap to advance birth equity. This work requires commitment and engagement from many community groups and organizations working together,” said Kaitlyn Meirs, Program Associate at RWJF. “We look forward to the work sessions and the changes that will emerge from them.”
We’re asking those interested in participating to register for the virtual sessions, which begin Jan. 27 — and to spread the word to organizations that should lead or be involved in the work ahead. The four sessions culminate with an in-person gathering on March 3. To attend the in-person gathering, you must have attended at least one work session.
The working sessions are not webinars or lectures. We are bringing people together to listen and empower those with ideas to share, a process essential to so much of our work at the Quality Institute.
Here are the four areas of the MAP:
- Collect and Use Data to Improve Equity and Quality
- Improve Community-Based Social Supports
- Build the Workforce Needed to Achieve Birth Equity and Quality
- Reform Payment Systems to Drive High Quality Holistic Maternal Infant Health Care
More information about our expert co-facilitators for each session and the pre-reads for each session can be found on our website. We hope your organization will participate in some or all the sessions. At the Quality Institute, we know the strength of our work to improve health care comes from collaboration.