| A quarterly newsletter dedicated to eliminating disparities in our health systems. |
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| Every day across the country, families wake up to unimaginable heartbreak. The healthy baby that they put to bed passed away during the night. Healthy babies shouldn’t die in their sleep. Despite decades of trying to reduce the number of sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID), these alarming numbers still persist. And most often, their persistence affects families of color. SUID rates for Native American, Alaskan Native, and Non-Hispanic Black babies are more than twice those of white babies. These statistics reflect a disturbing lack of equity. Yet, they also illuminate a path of promising change. In this article, NICHQ Senior Project Director and Equity Lead and founder of the Global Infant Safe Sleep Center, Stacy Scott, Ph.D., MPA, shares ideas on how we can best address this alarming lack of equity and reduce sleep-related deaths across all populations. “Improving safe sleep practices means helping families understand the existing recommendations and why they matter. And helping them understand means having conversation built on mutual trust,” says Dr. Scott. “That trust isn’t something that just exists naturally, especially when working with underserved populations. We have to understand that these conversations are fraught with underlying tension, which stems from historic trauma and implicit bias.” |
| A teaching tool for reducing infant sleep-related deaths This is the Spanish translation of NICHQ’s popular video quiz to help physicians, nurses, home visitors, and other public health professionals prompt discussions around best practices for infant sleep. Health professionals can use this short video quiz to engage caregivers in conversations about safe sleep recommendations. It provides eight different examples of sleeping infants and asks viewers to identify whether or not the depicted behavior is safe. An explanation and recommendation are provided in Spanish after each scenario. |
| The Great READ: Reading, Exchange and DialogueThought-provoking books, podcasts, and films can pave the way for change by inspiring understanding, compassion, inquiry, and conversation. That’s why earlier this year, NICHQ staff came together to share the books that have most affected their understanding of equity and what’s needed to achieve it. Since then, we’ve added more books, podcasts, and films to the list! This article shares our top picks with the hope these resources will support our readers on their equity journeys. Applying an Equity Lens to Safe Sleep and Breastfeeding EffortsBlack families are twice as likely as white families to have their baby die in the first year of life. Comprehensive improvement requires elevating Black women and families as leaders in driving change at the community, hospital, and system level. In this article, faculty experts from a national safe sleep and breastfeeding initiative share their recommendations for how health professionals and improvement initiatives can better support the health and well-being of Black families. Opportunities to Improve Health Equity for Mothers, Babies and Children To understand health holistically, we need to consider it outside the silo of a health care system. We need to take into account the many other factors that impact our individual health, like the schools we attend and the relationships we experience. In this article, we’re exploring three tried and tested ways to make change in your state and help ensure that all children, regardless of circumstance, achieve equity in health outcomes. |
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Thought-provoking books, podcasts, and films can pave the way for change by inspiring understanding, compassion, inquiry, and conversation. That’s why earlier this year, NICHQ staff came together to share the books that have most affected their understanding of equity and what’s needed to achieve it. Since then, we’ve added more books, podcasts, and films to the list! This article shares our top picks with the hope these resources will support our readers on their equity journeys.