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The Top Children’s Health Stories of 2020

Dad and Son ReadingIn the final weeks of 2020, we’re looking back at our most popular articles of the year. From supporting children’s health during the COVID-19 pandemic to pursuing equitable health systems, here’s a rundown of the top ten NICHQ articles you found most engaging over the past year. 

Thank you for reading our articles, liking them on social, and sharing them with your networks. With every NICHQ Insight, our goal is to equip public health professionals, providers, and their leadership with actionable, evidence-based strategies to improve health for children and families.

Read on to make sure you see the stories your peers found most valuable in 2020. Make sure you’re signed up for  NICHQ News so you stay informed of new resources, webinars, and innovations in children’s health.

10. Authentic Family Partnership in Health Care Improvement: What Does it Take?

NICHQ Board of Directors member, Cara Coleman, JD, MPH, shares advice on how health care providers and improvement teams can develop stronger partnership with families, strengthen systems of care, and improve health outcomes for the children they serve. 

9. Indianapolis Gives Moms and Babies in Prison a Healthy Start

Committed to championing a too-often overlooked population, Indianapolis Healthy Start partnered with the state’s women’s prison system to ensure that moms and babies could receive all recommended services and supports, starting with prenatal care and continuing for two years after birth. Learn more here.

8. Building Agency and Self-Efficacy: A Vital Opportunity to Reduce Sleep-Related Infant Deaths

Understanding how to support agency can help health care professionals transform their conversations with families and tap new and innovative approaches. Here, Milt Kotelchuck, PhD, MPH, provides six practical opportunities, drawing on more than three decades of experience working in maternal and child health quality improvement. 

7. Communities in Ohio Address Rising Inequalities in Response to COVID-19

A serious compounding problem of COVID-19 is how it is intensifying inequalities across the country, including in Ohio, where significant disparities in maternal and child health persist. In this article, learn how Mahoning County is proactively identifying how the pandemic affects at-risk populations and developing a comprehensive plan that brings together partners from across the health system. 

6. How to Build Buffers Against ACEs and Their Consequences

Stressful events during childhood can have a negative impact across the lifespan. But, even under optimal circumstances, adversity childhood experiences (ACE) are sometimes unavoidable. In this article, learn how building buffers can help all children thrive and protect against ACEs.  

5. Using an Equity Lens to Reduce Maternal Mortality in Louisiana

In Louisiana, Black women are dying from pregnancy-related deaths at over four times the rate of white women. More than half of these deaths could have been prevented by making a system change, either at the patient, community, or hospital level. These findings illustrate the enormous potential that quality improvement initiatives have for reducing maternal mortality in Louisiana and eliminating the Black-white disparity in maternal deaths. That’s why we’re sharing seven opportunities for improvement from the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative.

4. Making Fathers Visible in Maternal and Child Health

From cognitive and social emotional development to education and accomplishments, children with involved fathers achieve better health outcomes. Yet despite fathers’ positive impact on maternal and child health, many of the systems intended to serve women and children were not designed with fathers in mind. In this article, we’re sharing strategies to increasing father involvement in early childhood programs.

3. Seven Strategies for Conducting Services Virtually

Across the country, health and social service providers have had to find new ways to support children and families in the face of COVID-19. Home visiting services, pediatric well-child visits, prenatal care and mental health appointments have largely had to transition from in-person appointments to visits virtually—either via phone or video. By learning how to conduct a successful virtual visit, health and social service providers can help ensure children and families receive the support they need during and after this pandemic.

2. Innovative Strategies for Promoting Developmental Health in Rural Alaska

In Kodiak Alaska’s remote island community, it can be difficult for families to connect with public health and community resources, especially during the early years of life when children are developing rapidly. Here, learn how they’re leveraging innovative strategies to promote developmental health.

1. Supporting Children’s Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

How does the coronavirus effect children’s health? Currently, children without underlying chronic conditions do not appear to be at high risk for COVID-19 and the illness seems to be milder in children than adults. This article discusses how COVID-19’s overall impact on children’s health outcomes will likely be far reaching.

What children’s health innovation stories have you read lately? Share them with us @NICHQ on Twitter!