Worcester launches Maternal and Child Health Dashboard to address health outcomes
Photo I Courtesy of State House News Service/Arteida MjESHTRI/Unsplash
The City of Worcester launched an interactive Maternal and Child Health Dashboard on Friday.
As maternal morbidity rates are a concern throughout Massachusetts, the City of Worcester has released an interactive Maternal and Child Health Dashboard to improve outcomes.
Launched on Friday, the dashboard was created with a focus on health disparities in an effort to enhance transparency, inform public policy, and improve outcomes for mothers and infants throughout the region, according to a Friday press release from the City.
“The launch of our Maternal and Child Health data dashboard marks a powerful step forward in our commitment to transparency, equity, and community-driven change,” Tamara Lundi, director of the Worcester Division of Public Health, said in the release. “By putting this data directly into the hands of the public, we are not just sharing information, we are building a shared vision for healthier futures, informed decisions, and stronger beginnings for every family in Worcester. This is more than a tool; it’s a promise of progress.”
The interactive dashboard offers data under the categories of maternal health; birth characteristics and outcomes; and child health, according to the dashboard’s website.
Statistics available on the site include that as of 2022, 10.5% of Worcester babies were born preterm, and the fact that Black mothers in the U.S. are by far the most common victims of maternal mortality, with 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Comparatively, the dashboard shows 14.5 white mothers die per 100,000 live births, 12.4 for Hispanic mothers, and 10.7 for Asian mothers.
The Maternal and Child Health Dashboard pulls data from sources such as the Massachusetts government’s website, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System.
The dashboard was designed in partnership with public health professionals and community organizers, and the WDPH aims to continue its local collaborations to collect local data pertaining to prenatal care, infant mortality, birth outcomes, and access to services.
Upcoming collaborations include those with UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester and the school’s Worcester Integrated Health Data Exchange.
“The City of Worcester Maternal Child Health Data dashboard proves our commitment to making public health data accessible to our residents,” WDPH Deputy Director Nikki Nixon said in the release. “It has been an idea of the WDPH to have more focused dashboards since we released the [Community Health Assessment] in 2023, and I am proud that it has finally come to fruition.”
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments