The Power of Nursing

New mothers who live in poverty are faced with fewer resources to help them with their physical and mental health as well as the health of their babies. In New York City, the Nurse-Family partnership matches nurses with economically poor first-time mothers. Different studies have shown that women in the program have healthier pregnancies and children.

At St. John Hospital in Detroit, the principles of cultural sensitivity and collaboration—as well as lots of fundraising—have boosted previously low breastfeeding rates by black mothers.

A shortage of incubators in a Bogota hospital was causing rampant infections among newborns. Kangaroo care, a system where the infant's mother is employed as a human incubator, was created and solved the shortage problem.

Richland County, OH has a 7.3 percent infant mortality rate per 1,000 infants born, which is one point higher than the national rate. The rate is influenced by socio-economic issues and a lack of pre-and post-natal care. Different programs and organizations in Richland County confront these factors by expanding access to prenatal health care and expanding services to minority communities for infant care.

Research has shown the importance of infant-primary caregiver attachment for the future of the child's cognitive ability, emotional health, and parent relationship. Infant Mental Health Specialists and other practitioners have emphasized programs and techniques to improve this relationship, for example infant massage classes, and specifically tailored interventions.

Miraclefeet is a U.S. based nonprofit that provides free clubfoot treatment in 29 countries, including 15 in Africa. Following Ponseti, a nonsurgical treatment plan, caregivers gently manipulate a child’s feet by stretching them into the correct position and using plaster of Paris to cast the foot in that position. After 5-8 weeks, children wear braces for 23 hours every day for the first three months, then only while sleeping for 3-5 years, in order to maintain the correction. The brace is made up of a special shoe that is clipped to a bar. The treatment is less expensive and 98% effective when done early.

Vermont has opened its first donor milk center which acts as a breast milk bank for mothers that are in need of milk for their newborn babies. The Vermont Donor Milk Center aims to be a "one-stop shop," and also offers lactation consultation, maternal education, and supports for non-lactating partners.

Providing mothers with access to health education during and after pregnancy helps reduce child mortality. In Nigeria, the Mamacare program teaches pregnant women about nutrition, hygiene, and infant health at clinics across Lagos State. The program, which is affiliated with WellBeing Foundation Africa, uses a network of midwives, who share experiences, teach lessons, and encourage the women to give birth at clinics.

The United States is the only developed nation to not have a national paid family leave policy, so several states are enacting their own form of the policy in order to better serve families and child development. The handful of states that have implemented a policy that allows for time off work with at least partial pay, have reported a myriad of successful outcomes including a decrease in infant and maternal mortality rates and overall better health of the child.

Providing door-to-door health care for mothers and children under five years of age greatly reduces mortality. Thanks to a program of home visits by community health care workers funded by the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the Yirimadio neighborhood of Mali’s capital city, Bamako, has succeeded in dramatically reducing childhood mortality. The government intends to scale the pilot program into a nationwide campaign by 2022.