Aetna Foundation Funds Research, Programs to Encourage Breastfeeding and Combat Infant Mortality
February 14 2012 - 3:02PM
Business Wire
Seven nonprofit organizations have been awarded grants totaling
$363,650 from the Aetna Foundation to help expectant women from
minority populations have healthier pregnancies and healthier
babies. The funding is part of the Aetna Foundation’s commitment to
promoting racial and ethnic health care equity by reducing the high
rate of infant mortality in the U.S. among vulnerable communities,
particularly in the African-American population where preterm birth
and mortality in the first year of life are double the rates of the
white population and where breastfeeding rates are lower.
The grants will address such issues as breastfeeding, obesity
and pregnancy, perinatal stress, access to prenatal care and the
effectiveness of doulas. The programs will focus on at-risk women
and their babies in California, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
and Texas.
“Helping at-risk mothers access high-quality care, good
nutrition and education about healthy living is a way to ensure
their children get a healthy start in life,” said Sharon Dalton,
vice president of the Aetna Foundation and director of its regional
grant making. “For example, we know that breastfeeding can boost
immunity and reduce the risk of obesity for children, and that
stress-reduction and healthy weight in expectant mothers lead to
fewer complications in pregnancy and childbirth.
“Our support of these programs aims to broaden the reach of
much-needed services to women from vulnerable populations and to
help organizations research the effectiveness of their programs to
deliver strong results,” said Dalton.
The Aetna Foundation grants are:
Multiple locations
- $145,150 to the Nurse-Family
Partnership National Service Office, based in Denver, for a
two-year quality-improvement study to develop new interventions to
increase breastfeeding rates among first-time African-American
mothers participating in its home-visit outreach program. The
Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is available in 34 states and
annually reaches more than 22,000 low-income women from pregnancy
through the first two years of the child’s life. Specially educated
nurses work closely with their clients to develop lifestyle
behaviors that can lead to healthier pregnancies, stronger
parenting skills, emotionally and physically healthier children and
greater economic self-sufficiency. Promoting breastfeeding, which
has well-documented health benefits for both children and their
mothers, is a core goal of the program. Currently, about 79 percent
of all NFP clients nationwide initiate breastfeeding and nearly 28
percent are still breastfeeding six months later. But NFP’s data
also show that its African-American clients start breastfeeding at
significantly lower rates and give up more quickly than women of
other racial or ethnic backgrounds. To better understand why, the
NFP National Service Office staff will hold focus groups to examine
attitudes toward breastfeeding and use the findings to design and
test new strategies to encourage breastfeeding among 240 first-time
African-American mothers in three regions where breastfeeding is
less prevalent: Philadelphia; 12 counties in New Jersey (Camden,
Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth,
Passaic, Salem, Somerset, and Union); and four Texas cities
(Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio).
Florida
- $43,500 to Healthy Mothers, Healthy
Babies Coalition of Broward County, Inc., based in Ft. Lauderdale,
in support of its three-year program, the Mahogany Project, that
reaches out to at-risk pregnant women of color living in one of the
city’s poorest neighborhoods who have little or no prenatal care or
financial resources. The program provides the women with medical
case management services from early pregnancy until their babies’
first birthday, and includes group support meetings, lactation
consultations, health education and training, and emergency
assistance.
- $40,000 to Healthy Mothers, Healthy
Babies Coalition of Palm Beach County, Inc., headquartered in
Delray Beach, in support of its Health Care Navigation program and
Mobile Outreach Center that helps uninsured pregnant teenagers and
women in Palm Beach County obtain consistent access to prenatal and
other health care services that can lead to healthy birth outcomes.
Bilingual advocates guide at-risk pregnant women through the
safety-net health care system, from explaining the requirements of
eligibility to providing translation services at appointments.
Texas
- $30,000 to Neighborhood Centers Inc. of
Houston, for an observational study to examine the impact of
prenatal, delivery and postpartum services by certified doulas on
the birth outcomes and experience of low-income African-American
and Hispanic mothers, ages 15 – 25, living in Houston. The study
will also measure outcomes between doula intervention and
breastfeeding, mother/child attachment, maternal well-being and
infant health and development. In Houston, only about half of
African-American and Hispanic women receive prenatal care, and the
city’s infant mortality rates are higher than state and national
averages.
Pennsylvania
- $50,000 to the Maternity Care Coalition
of Philadelphia, to support the first year of a three-year research
study to evaluate a multi-component, low-cost program to help new
mothers reduce their postpartum weight retention and increase the
duration of newborn breastfeeding to curb maternal and childhood
obesity and the risk of cardiovascular disease and other
obesity-related illnesses. The study will track 220 low-income
women in a multi-site, randomized controlled trial to measure the
effectiveness of the program that provides motivational text
messages, in-home physical activity aids, social support, lactation
consultations and nutrition and health education.
Northern California
- $25,000 to the Institute of Noetic
Sciences™ based in Petaluma, to translate into Spanish and make
culturally appropriate enhancements to the Mindful Motherhood
Training, an educational program for pregnant women that teaches
mindfulness-based skills to reduce chronic stress, which often
afflicts minority populations at higher rates and can lead to
preterm birth, childbirth complications, low-birth weight and
impaired cognitive development. The program is currently being
modified in a project funded by the National Institutes of Health
to include a greater emphasis on healthy eating and living
behaviors to address the needs of the growing population of obese
low- and middle-income pregnant women whose weight puts them at
higher risk of complications in pregnancy and childbirth. The
Spanish-language version of the Mindful Motherhood Training will be
piloted, tested and refined to ensure its effectiveness and
cultural literacy among Hispanic populations.
- $30,000 to La Clínica de La Raza, Inc.,
to expand the capability of its Oakland-based clinic, the San
Antonio Neighborhood Health Center, to provide high-quality and
culturally appropriate perinatal support services in languages
other than Spanish to accommodate the growing diversity of the once
primarily Hispanic, low-income neighborhood. Designed to reduce the
number of low birth-weight babies born in the community, the Health
Center’s perinatal program helps eligible women enroll in
California’s Medicaid program and provides individual and group
health education classes, birth control method counseling,
psychosocial case management, nutrition education and counseling,
and breastfeeding instruction.
Promoting racial and ethnic health care equity is one of the
Aetna Foundation’s three program areas, in addition to combating
obesity and advancing integrated and coordinated health care. Last
year, Aetna and the Aetna Foundation awarded $730,000 in research
grants to address the high rate of infant mortality among
African-American newborns. Also in 2011, the Aetna Foundation was a
sponsor of the 16th Annual International Meeting of the Academy of
Breastfeeding Medicine, held in Miami, to assist the organization
in disseminating evidence-based information about breastfeeding as
an obesity prevention strategy to health care providers.
About the Aetna Foundation
The Aetna Foundation, Inc. is the independent charitable and
philanthropic arm of Aetna Inc. Since 1980, Aetna and the Aetna
Foundation have contributed $394 million in grants and
sponsorships, including $15.6 million in 2010. As a national health
foundation, we promote wellness, health, and access to high-quality
health care for everyone. This work is enhanced by the time and
commitment of Aetna employees, who have volunteered more than 2.3
million hours since 2003. Aetna’s current giving is focused on
addressing the rising rate of adult and childhood obesity in the
U.S.; promoting racial and ethnic equity in health and health care;
and advancing integrated health care. For more information, visit
www.AetnaFoundation.org.
Aetna (NYSE:AET)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Aetna (NYSE:AET)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024