Nearly one in five African-American babies in Newark is born too soon, and a new community-based program announced aims to help more of these babies be born healthy and full-term.

March of Dimes launched Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait, a program to reduce preterm births in Newark.  Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait is a partnership of the March of Dimes, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, the City of Newark Department of Child and Family Well Being, Newark Beth Israel, UMDNJ – The University Hospital and Newark Community Health Centers, conducted in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson.

The primary goal of this partnership in Newark is to reduce the rate of singleton (one baby) preterm birth with particular concern for reducing preterm birth within the African-American community. The March of Dimes has been working with prenatal care providers and community-based organizations to select interventions and develop materials specifically for African-American women.

African-American women are more than one and a half times as likely to have a preterm baby compared to white women; and disparities persist even when age, education and other demographics are considered. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, in 2009, the preterm birth rate in Newark for African-American women was 18.6 percent, while the overall rate for the city was 16.5 percent — both substantially higher than the statewide preterm birth rate of 12 percent.

In Newark the preterm birth rate is more than 66 percent higher among African-Americans babies when compared to non-Hispanic whites. ”Preventing preterm birth saves babies’ lives and opens up a healthy future for them and their families,” said LaVerne Council, chair of the March of Dimes Board of Trustees.

“Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait will offer more New Jersey moms, especially African-American moms who are at greater risk, the best information and services geared especially for them.”

Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait provides education for perinatal providers, pregnant women, and the greater Newark community on the problem of preterm birth, its risk factors and strategies for reducing risk.  Additionally, it provides a supportive structure for implementing bundled evidence-based clinical and public health interventions to reduce preterm birth.

HBWW-Newark works to increase early entry into prenatal care by building strong collaborations among the health department, healthcare providers and community organizations as only 55% of African-American women receive prenatal care within the first trimester.

“Preparing for a new baby should be a time of great excitement,” said Mary O’Dowd, New Jersey Health and Senior Services Commissioner. “Premature birth is the number one obstetrical problem in the U.S. and African-American women in particular, across all socioeconomic groups, are at a much greater risk of delivering their babies too soon.  Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait aims to help prevent preterm births with a model that combines clinical, educational and community efforts to improve overall systems of care.”

“I am proud to be working with the March of Dimes to implement Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait inNewark,” said Newark City Council woman Mildred Crump. “Culturally competent prenatal care and education messages are vital to improving birth outcomes in our city.”

“Johnson & Johnson is committed to improving the health of mothers and babies worldwide.  Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait has proven that community-based programs can reduce pre-term birth rates. We are excited to be a partner in this project which focuses on a particularly vulnerable group of mothers and babies right here in New Jersey,” said Joy Marini, Director, Corporate Contributions, Johnson & Johnson.

The Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait program is an important component of the March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign, a nationwide effort to address the growing problem of premature birth, the leading cause of newborn death and a major cause of serious health problems. Prematurity costs U.S. society 26 billion dollars every year. The March of Dimes also funds research to find the causes of premature birth.

“I thank the March of Dimes for marshaling their considerable reputation and resources to address the critical issue of preterm birth in African-American women,” said New Jersey State Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno. “Like other March of Dimes efforts, I have no doubt this new community-based program will raise awareness and prove tremendously effective.”

In 2007 in Kentucky, Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait began as a demonstration project of the March of Dimes, the Kentucky Department of Health and the Johnson and Johnson Pediatric Institute. Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait is now a signature program of the March of Dimes with 13 sites nationwide in Kentucky, Texas, and New Jersey.

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Thanks to a new law, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the Department of Health are expanding public access to birth and death records starting Wednesday, Feb. 15. The public can access the records online State Birth or in person at the Pennsylvania State Archives.

In December, Governor Tom Corbett signed Act 110 to make birth certificates available to the public 105 years after issuance and death certificates available 50 years after issuance. Beginning Feb. 15, births from 1906 and deaths from 1906 to 1961 will become available. One year of births and one year of deaths will be added each subsequent year. Records prior to 1906 are held at the county level.

“We are pleased that Pennsylvania’s older birth and death certificates are now open to the public,” said State Archivist David A. Haury. “We share the excitement of the genealogists and other researchers who will now be able to use these records to learn about their families and communities.”

To access the records online, go to www.health.state.pa.us and click on “Birth and Death Certificates.” Indices will be available online in PDF format and are searchable by name of individual and year of event. Once a record is identified, the state file number will be needed for the application to request a non-certified copy of the certificate from the Department of Health.

For in-person access, visit the State Archives at 350 North St., Harrisburg. Visitors wishing to see original records will first be provided access to the Department of Health’s online indices to identify the state file number. Once the file number is determined, patrons will use the Archives’ normal search room procedures to have the record pulled for them.

Before searching online or in person, researchers are urged to be prepared by knowing the year of the event, the spelling of the name they are searching for, and/or the county of the birth or death.

Access to indices is free; however, a $3 processing fee will continue to be charged for non-certified copies ordered online through Department of Health. Copying fees may apply at the State Archives, as well as research fees for search requests received via mail or e-mail.

The Department of Health’s Division of Vital Records is working on fully digitizing and indexing all certificates to allow for easier online record research. These changes will be rolled out within the next year. Researchers will eventually be able to search records by first name only, year of occurrence, county, or even by parents’ names.

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Six national aging groups filed a friend of the court brief with the Supreme Court last Friday, January 27, saying that there are extensive provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that are of “vital importance to the health and well-being of people 65 and older” and that Congress did not intend for any of them to be contingent on whether or not the minimum coverage provision (also called the individual mandate) was constitutional.

“The health and quality of life of many older Americans are already improving because of the health reform law,” says National Senior Citizens Law Center Executive Director, Paul Nathanson. “We don’t believe Congress intended to let the elderly poor languish in nursing homes or be subject to abuse if the individual mandate was found unworkable.”

The amicus brief was filed in the National Federation of Independent Business et al v Kathleen Sebelius et al and the State of Florida et al v Department of Health and Human Services et al cases which challenge the constitutionality of the health reform law. In those cases, the petitioners contend that all of the ACA should fall if the minimum coverage provision is invalidated by the Court.

The brief states that a “careful review” of policies Congress sought to enact shows that the provisions affecting people aged 65 and over “can be effectuated without any reliance on the minimum coverage provision.”

The brief also highlights the parts of the ACA that greatly benefit people aged 65 and older that should not be affected if the Court decides to invalidate the minimum coverage provision, including the following:

• Reduced cost-sharing for Medicare beneficiaries for prescription drugs by substantially reducing the coverage gap or so-called donut hole
• Elimination of cost-sharing for annual wellness visits and other screening services
• Medicare Advantage plans are prevented from charging higher cost-sharing for chemotherapy and dialysis than permitted under traditional Medicare
• Decreased unnecessary institutionalization of Medicaid beneficiaries
• Improved coordination of care for people receiving both Medicare and Medicaid (dual eligibles)
• Improved quality and safety in nursing homes, and prevention of abuse and neglect of elderly and people with disabilities in nursing and other residential facilities.

The brief states that the only provisions that should be affected by the constitutionality of the minimum coverage provision are the pre-existing condition, the community rating, and guaranteed issue provisions.

“The rest of the ACA, including, but in no way limited to the provisions highlighted in this amicus brief, should remain intact,” the brief concludes.

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A report released by the Institute of Medicine found that few adverse effects are caused by or linked to eight vaccines. The scientific evidence also veers more in the direction of rejecting the connection and causal relationship between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

An 18-member committee of experts convened by the IOM analyzed more than 1,000 research articles, analyzing the evidence behind each of these as to the amount of adverse effects caused by the eight vaccines.

The committee made 158 conclusions that made up four categories, ranging from supporting a casual relationship between the vaccine and the adverse effect to favoring rejection of the causal relationship.

One hundred thirty-three out of the 158 decisions were in the category labeled as evidence inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship. One such includes that of concerns over the HPV vaccine.

This inadequate evidence comes from the lack of data, due to the short amount of time it has been on the market. This category, however, varies in its findings, since evidence is labeled inadequate for a variety of reasons.

Fourteen of the outcomes were found to be convincingly linked, including fainting and febrile seizures.

However, as the press release states, cause and effect relationships can only be established with significant and solid evidence. The conclusions reached by the committee reflect the “strengths and weakenesses of several types of evidence, including biological, clinical, and epidemiological research,” the press release says.

The IOM was asked by the Health Resources and Services Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to examine the eight vaccines. HRSA also chose the adverse effects to be studied.

These effects are ones “for which people have submitted claims – successful or not – “ to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, according to the report brief.

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