Last month, we took a look at how UProot’s mission has evolved in the past couple of years. One important way to address the social determinants of health is to screen infants and children for many of the conditions that can be easily prevented or treated in childhood.
One of our goals for 2024 is to increase the number of these childhood screenings in Mississippi. There are two tools currently on the table that are helping communities near you to reach this goal: Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visitations (MIECHV) and Medicaid screenings.
Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visitations (MIECHV)
MIECHV is a home-visitation program for families with children up to five years of age. A new program will let families in 16 counties take advantage of free support from trained professionals, if they choose to.
These professionals teach skills like safe sleep for infants, breastfeeding, and can connect families to childhood and postpartum health screenings.
We know that these at-home visits work. They are a proven method for reducing infant and maternal mortality and childhood diseases, and can improve the health of the mother.
MIECHV works on a system where parents take the lead. This system, “parents as teachers” is an evidence-based model for informing parents.
Interested parents or families can sign up here. If your county will have the MIECHV program available, make sure that your community knows about it.
Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT )
Our partners are also working with Medicaid to get more Mississippians into Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT ) programs.
EPSDT provides things like physical exams, immunizations, lab tests and health education. These simple and cost-effective steps make a big difference in health, especially when done for children and adolescents, who are more likely to be covered by Medicaid.
What’s Next?
You or your organization can get involved with these efforts to prevent disease and health problems, and improve our social determinants of health. Help drive signups for MIECHV if you’re in a target county.
See what community health measures work by visiting the “What Works” page, which has fact sheets on many health issues, including obesity and Social Determinants of Health, available online or to be printed out.
Read through the updated State Health Improvement plan and find a way to help Mississippi reach those goals.
You can read our news section to see success stories and if you know of a health improvement in Mississippi, let us know!