Promoting a Trained MCH Epidemiology Workforce in State Public Health Agencies Through Strategies Developed From Continued Partnerships

Abstract

Maternal and child health (MCH) epidemiology has become a major program component of most state Title V MCH programs [1]. MCH epidemiology is ‘‘the systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of population-based and program-specific health and related data in order to assess the distribution and determinants of the health status and needs of the maternal child population for the purpose of planning, implementing, and assessing effective, science-based strategies and promoting policy development’’ [2], a definition derived from the work of others [3]. Increasing ‘‘the proportion of Tribal, State, and local public health agencies that provide or assure comprehensive epidemiology services to support essential public health services[4],’’ including MCH epidemiology, is of national importance and continues to be recognized as a Healthy People objective [4]. Maternal and child health epidemiology capabilities in state and territorial public health agencies have increased over the last decade. According to national surveys, the percentage of jurisdictions reporting substantial epidemiology and surveillance capacity has increased from 35 % in 2001 to 55 % in 2009, and the percentage reporting minimal to no capacity has decreased from 25 % in 2004 to 12 % in 2009 [5]. Moreover, 46 % of jurisdictions have an MCH epidemiologist with a doctoral degree (M.D., Ph.D., and other doctoral degrees), the highest percentage of any public health epidemiology specialty area. This advancement in the MCH workforce occurred because of the strong collaborative efforts of federal public health agencies, academia, and national public health membership organizations [such as the Association of MCH Programs (AMCHP), Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), and CityMatCH] to bolster MCH epidemiology training at every stage of professional development. The beginnings of these national efforts to promote a trained MCH epidemiology workforce have been described by others [3, 6, 7]. These early efforts included: (1) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) MCH epidemiology program (MCHEP) assigning doctoral-prepared career MCH epidemiologists to state and local public health agencies since 1986, with support from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB); and (2) MCHB awarding grants to train existing staff through regional perinatal data projects and continuing education programs such as the Disclaimer The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.