Leveraging Data for Equity in Maternal and Child Health

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials leads the Data Roadmap for Racial Equity Advancement in Maternal and Child Health (DREAM) project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The DREAM project was a Learning Community (LC) to support states in building data capacity to address racial equity in maternal and child health. Specifically, the DREAM LC supported states to implement Title V National Performance Measures (NPMs) in postpartum visits or children’s medical homes using the Racial Equity Data Roadmap developed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MA DPH). The MA DPH Roadmap is a tool to support programs and states towards eliminating structural racism by authentically engaging communities, framing data in the broader contexts that impact health, and designing solutions that address root causes.

The National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ) performed a mixed methods formative evaluation to inform LC activities on addressing racial/ethnic equity in Title V NPMs. This report summarizes findings from the formative evaluation, encompassing data from three different activities with state teams: the Request for Application survey form, Key Informant Interviews, and a two-part survey. The structure of this report follows the MA DPH Roadmap, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative components to address each MA DPH Roadmap data-to-action step sequentially.