September is Infant Mortality Awareness Month

September is Infant Mortality Awareness Month, and in 2012, SUID/SIDS groups across the country are encouraging everyone to get involved to help reduce the infant mortality rate, particularly in minority communities.

The theme is A Healthy Baby Begins with You and You and You!

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health (OMH) states that "to actually take on infant mortality, doctors, nurses, midwives, and all healthcare professionals need to know not only the medical aspects, but the influence of the social determinants of health on the health outlook of the patients with whom they interact. Cultural competence is no longer an option. These major components must be addressed in order to not just decrease, but eliminate health disparities. Place, race, and income do matter, but there are ways to account for them and address them in order to have a more holistic and effective approach to patient care."

Federal and national organizations have developed extensive materials to help "professionals take on infant mortality." Highlights include:

• OMH's Infant Mortality Awareness Month Toolkit, which includes a wealth of information for: partners; individuals; non-profit organizations; providers; and media.
  
  
  • OF NOTE: What Can Healthcare Providers Do to Help Reduce Infant Mortality Rates?
    Read what fellow providers have to say!
• The National Network of Libraries of Medicine's Medline Plus has highlighted information for families to address infant mortality: Infant and Newborn Care | Infant and Newborn Development.
• The National Healthy Start Association's campaign, Celebrate Day 366…Every Baby Deserves a Chance, to celebrate babies living beyond the first year of life.

The National SUID/SIDS Consortium also has many new materials in support of Infant Mortality Awareness Month, including:

• SUID/SIDS Consortium provides Resources to Support AAP Policy Statement, SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Expansion of Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment (AAP Policy Statement | Technical Report, October 2011)
• ASIP/AMCHP Webinar 6: Rachel Moon and Fern Hauck discuss the new AAP Policy Statement
• African American Faith-Based Bereavement Initiative: Curriculum
• First Candle's Counselor's Corner for families who are grieving.
• Cultural and Linguistic Competence Self-Assessment for Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Programs: Webinar Archive 
• Resources for Professionals Who Work on SUID/SIDS Issues. Includes Project IMPACT's state MCH and SUID contacts, First Candle's member and partner oranizations, access to local grief support, and the National Conference of State Legislatures' SIDS state laws listing.

• Training Toolkit. Selected training curricula, programs, and resources for professionals, including options for CEU credit and multimedia trainings.
• Responding to Sudden Infant Death: The Professional's Role.
• Health Education Specialist Corner from the Program Support Center. Currently highlighted is the CEU online training for pharmacists.
• Hot Topics in Infant Safe Sleep: An Interactive Workshop with Rachel Moon, M.D. from the ASIP-Pregnancy Loss and Infant Death Alliance International Conference on Perinatal and Infant Death.
• Counselor's Corner from the Program Support Center answers questions from professionals and parents on bereavement.
• New editions released of The Death of a Child, The Grief of the Parents: A Lifetime Journey and The Grieving Child: Helping Children Cope When an Infant Dies

Updated: September 2012