Reducing Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Reproductive and Perinatal Outcomes - The Evidence from Population-Based Interventions

Among women's health concerns, reproductive issues, both prenatal and postpartum, hold particular prominence. Yet despite the many programs dedicated to improving women's reproductive health, maternal and infant morbidity and mortality rates in minority communities remain unchanged-or have increased. Confronting this alarming statistic head-on, Reducing Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Reproductive and Perinatal Outcomes is the first book systematically examining public health interventions designed toward meeting this important and elusive goal. Its contributors offer the best thinking and practice on this complicated topic, clarifying the relationship between evidence-based medicine and evidence-based public health and its potential for increasing parity, considering interventions in the multiple contexts of women's lives, reviewing the evidence base for each program or initiative featured, and describing methodologies for evaluating interventions. The resulting volume advocates for an integrative lifespan approach, including topics related to:

• Family planning
• STI and HIV/AIDS screening and treatment
• Smoking cessation and reducing exposure to environmental smoke
• Preconceptional well-woman care
• Depression screening and treatment
• Labor/delivery approaches and intrapartum care
• Emerging prenatal care interventions, from centering pregnancy to doula support

For professionals and graduate students in psychiatry, psychology, sociology, women's health, and public health, Reducing Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Reproductive and Perinatal Outcomes reframes a set of ongoing issues and guides the reader toward state-of-the-art solutions.


Arden Handler, DrPH received her degree as a Doctor of Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, where she is currently the Director of the Maternal and Child Health Training Program and Director of the MCH Epidemiology Program. Her research concentration is focused on the areas of maternal and child health policy and advocacy, perinatal/reproductive health epidemiology, and health services research with a focus on the delivery of prenatal and perinatal services.
Joan Kennelly is Research Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health. She is also an associate member of the Association of MCH Programs Data Committee, and serves as chair of the Curriculum Review Task Force for the UIC MCHP Advisory Committee. She is also an MCH Section Councilor in APHA. Her research interests relate broadly to the social determinants of population health and illness (particularly for women and children), disparities across population groups, and the effect of local contexts