(Santa Fe) – Safe sleep, smoking cessation and perinatal regionalization are among the topics that theNew Mexico Department of Health has prioritized in its efforts to reduce the state’s infant mortality rate. The announcement today comes on the heels of the Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network (CoIIN) to Reduce Infant Mortality’s movement into its next phase, where state teams will begin testing evidence-based change concepts and measuring their progress.
New Mexico’s infant mortality rate in 2013 was 5.49 per 1,000 live births, slightly below the national rate of 5.96 babies per 1,000.
The Department of Health’s Family Health Bureau has chosen to focus on three of the six CoIIN strategies to reduce infant mortality:
· Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)/Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID)/Safe Sleep:Primary focus is to improve safe sleep practices
· Smoking Cessation: Primary focus is to reduce smoking before, during and/or after pregnancy
· Risk-appropriate Perinatal Care (perinatal regionalization): Increase the delivery of higher-risk infants and mothers at appropriate level facilities around the state.
“Giving New Mexico babies the opportunity for a healthy, happy life is one of our priorities at the New Mexico Department of Health,” said Secretary of Health Retta Ward, MPH. “We believe the strategies New Mexico has selected to focus on will have the biggest impact in reducing infant mortality in our state.”
Over the next 12 to 18 months, teams from every U.S. state, territory and jurisdiction will join together through virtual and in-person meetings. With the help of partners, content experts and improvement advisors, they will identify and implement innovative practices in reducing infant mortality and eliminating health disparities.
CoIIN is a national, multiyear initiative engaging federal, state and local leaders, public and private agencies, professionals and communities to employ quality improvement, innovation and collaborative learning to reduce the U.S. infant mortality rate and to improve birth outcomes.
Anyone interested in partnering with the New Mexico Department of Health in the CoIIN initiative can contact Maternal Child Health Epidemiologist Christopher Whiteside by emailing him atChristopher.whitesi@state.nm.us or by calling him at (505)-476-8825.
To learn more about the CoIIN to Reduce Infant Mortality, visit www.nichq.org/coiin.