Addressing maternal and child health equity through a community health worker home visiting intervention to reduce low birth-weight: retrospective quasi-experimental study of the Arizona Health Start Programme



Authors: Sabo, S., Wightman, P., McCue, K., Butler, M., Pilling, V., Jimenez, D., Celaya, M., and Rumann, S.
Year: 2021
State: AZ

Publicly Available: Yes
Evidence Generation: Documentation of how CHWs can work within care teams, Evidence-based interventions, General other, White papers
Sustainable Financing: Evidence-based interventions, ROI and bundled payment successes/challenges
Workforce Development: CDC expand CHW work into SDOH, Data sharing between social services and clinical teams, General other (including mention of “employment practices”)

Objective: To test if participation in the Health Start Programme, an Arizona statewide Community Health Worker (CHW) maternal and child health (MCH) home visiting programme, reduced rates of low birth weight (LBW), very LBW (VLBW), extremely LBW (ELBW) and preterm birth (PTB).

Conclusion: A state health department-operated MCH home visiting intervention that employs CHWs as the primary interventionist may contribute to the reduction of LBW, VLBW, ELBW and PTB and could improve birth outcomes statewide, especially among women and children at increased risk for MCH inequity.



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