Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative Fact Sheet

Goals

Improve the health and well-being of women prior to pregnancy and work toward eliminating disparities in maternal and infant morbidity and mortality.

Despite increased utilization of prenatal care, a corresponding improvement in pregnancy outcomes, including preterm births and low birth weight, has not occurred in the U.S. over the past decade. In California, the infant mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio, and premature and low birth weight rates continue to exceed Healthy People 2010 national objectives.
African-American infants in California are more than two and half times more likely than White infants to die before their first birthday, and African-American mothers have a pregnancy-related mortality rate three times higher than that of Whites.
More than 40% of pregnancies in California are unplanned, thus women frequently conceive while in less than ideal health or while engaging in behaviors that can harm a pregnancy. The most critical periods of fetal development occur in the first few weeks following conception, before many women even know they are pregnant.
Use of the Perinatal Periods of Risk methodology indicates that excess fetal and infant deaths are related to lack of adequate preconception maternal health, and therefore can be addressed through preconception and interpregnancy interventions.

The First National Summit on Preconception Health, organized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was held in June 2005. During the Summit, the CDC convened the Select Panel on Preconception Care, which included experts from a variety of national organizations concerned about the health of women, infants, and families.
Together, the CDC internal workgroup and the Select Panel developed a set of 10 recommendations for improving preconception health and health care. The recommendations were published in the MMWR Recommendations and Reports on April 21, 2006.
Building on the impetus set by CDC, the Preconception Care Council of California (PCCC) was convened in May 2006 with the leadership of the Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Program of the California Department of Public Health and the March of Dimes California Chapter. A statewide forum for planning and decision-making for the integration, development and promotion of optimal health before pregnancy, the PCCC is composed of representatives from organizations and programs that are stakeholders in the development of preconception care services in California.
The PCCC, in collaboration with CDC and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), hosted the Second National Summit on Preconception Health and Health Care in Oakland, CA on October 29-31, 2007.

MCAH Program representatives participate in the PCCC quarterly meetings and workgroups. The PCCC achieves consensus on goals, objectives, and activities in the development of a statewide strategic plan in accordance with the CDC’s Select Panel Recommendations on preconception care.
Each of the three workgroups—Clinical/Research, Finance/Policy, and Public Health/Consumer—has developed an action plan for its particular area of focus and workgroup members are collaborating with local partners to implement these plans. Current activities include:

Developing provider education tools, such as lecture templates for all types of clinical providers, and exploring the possibility of local pilot research projects;
Clarifying the role that existing MCAH programs play in preconception health promotion and developing curricula and messaging to support and expand these efforts;
Educating the legislature about preconception care; advocacy for related bills; and development of recommendations for the integration of preconception and
interconception health care services into proposed healthcare reform packages.

A website for the Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative is currently in development. It will feature resources, tools and best practices and serve as a networking site for those interested in preconception health and health care.

All women, their partners, and their infants.
All Californians, since healthy women and infants incur fewer health care expenses.

Local MCAH jurisdictions who incorporate preconception health and health care activities into their existing MCAH programs.
The MCAH Preconception Health Coordinator provides training and technical assistance to interested local programs.

Federal Title V MCH Block Grant Funds. For more information, please see the Preconception Health and Health Care Page.