Healthy Birth Outcomes:
Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities
National and State Resources

All external hyperlinks are provided for your information and for the benefit of the general public. The Department of Health Services does not testify to, sponsor, or endorse the accuracy of the information provided on externally linked pages.

• The Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs is a national resource, partner and advocate for state public health leaders and others working to improve the health of women, children, youth and families, including those with special health care needs.



• ASTHO (the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials) is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, U.S. Territories, and the District of Columbia, as well as the 120,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to assuring excellence in state-based public health practice. See Strides Among State Health Agencies to Improve Birth Outcomes (PDF, 256 KB).



• 2011 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports, from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.



• Center for Healthcare Strategies, Inc. is a nonprofit health policy resource center dedicated to improving health care quality for low-income children and adults, people with chronic illnesses and disabilities, frail elders, and racially and ethnically diverse populations experiencing disparities in care. See Toolkit for Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities (exit DHS).



• The Children and Families website from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides information related to family and child health goals.



• CityMatCH seeks to improve the health and well-being of urban women, children and families by strengthening the public health organizations and leaders in their communities.



• The mission of the Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health (DRC) is to advance the effective use of public data on the status of children's health and health-related services for children, youth and families. The DRC does this by providing hands-on access to national, state, and regional data findings from large population-based surveys. Data are collected from parents and thus contribute a much-needed voice in the drive to improve the quality of care for children and youth. The DRC website includes national and state-level data on hundreds of child health indicators from the National Survey on Children's Health and the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs.



• The mission of the March of Dimes is to ensure that all babies are born healthy by reducing birth defects, prematurity, and infant mortality. As a leading advocacy organization, the March of Dimes engages a network of volunteers to reach out to local, state, and federal officials in support of efforts to ensure access to health care for all pregnant women and newborns.



• The MCH Title V program plays a critical role in coordination, capacity building, and quality oversight at the community and state levels for ensuring the health and well-being of women, infants, and children. By connecting people to services, programs to programs, and agencies to agencies, Title V programs maximize resources and increase quality and effectiveness.



• A variety of resources are available from the National Healthy Start Association to help Healthy Start projects promote the effectiveness of programs and efforts to reduce infant deaths, low birthweight, preterm births, and disparities in perinatal outcomes. Additional information and resources are available from the Office of Minority Health campaign, A Healthy Baby Begins with You.



• The National SUID/SIDS Resource Center has compiled resources to support state, community, family, and individual efforts to reduce SIDS rates throughout the United States. The resource center has also updated its Safe Sleep page to include current, high-quality information and materials on safe sleep practices and SIDS suffocation risk reduction for parents, caregivers, and health professionals.



• Reproductive and Birth Outcomes tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.



• Roots of Health Inequity: A web-based course for the public health workforce, from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO).

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Last Revised:  April 18, 2013