Establishing NIH Community Implementation Programs to improve maternal health

Karen M Plevock Haase; Candice A Price; Gina S Wei; Ilana G Goldberg; Bryan C Ampey; Erynn A Huff; Kimberly R Durkin; Ashley E Blair; Camille A Fabiyi; Keisher S Highsmith; Melissa S Wong; David Clark; George A Mensah

doi:10.1186/s43058-024-00634-4

Establishing NIH Community Implementation Programs to improve maternal health

Implement Sci Commun. 2024 Sep 30;5(1):105. doi: 10.1186/s43058-024-00634-4.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. karen.plevock@nih.gov.
² Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
³ Division of Blood Diseases and Resources, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
⁴ Immediate Office of the Director, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
⁵ Other Transactions Authority Office, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
⁶ Office of Management, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
⁷ Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
⁸ Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Research, National Institute On Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
⁹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
¹⁰ Office of Research On Women's Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
¹¹ Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The United States has seen increasing trends of maternal mortality in recent years. Within this health crisis there are large disparities whereby underserved and minoritized populations are bearing a larger burden of maternal morbidity and mortality. While new interventions to improve maternal health are being developed, there are opportunities for greater integration of existing evidence-based interventions into routine practice, especially for underserved populations, including those residing in maternity care deserts. In fact, over 80 percent of maternal deaths are preventable with currently available interventions. To spur equitable implementation of existing interventions, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute launched the Maternal-Health Community Implementation Program (MH-CIP) in 2021. In 2023, the National Institutes of Health's Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) initiative partnered with the NHLBI to launch the IMPROVE Community Implementation Program (IMPROVE-CIP). By design, CIPs engage disproportionately impacted communities and partner with academic researchers to conduct implementation research. This commentary overviews the impetus for creating these programs, program goals, structure, and offers a high-level overview of the research currently supported. Lastly, the potential outcomes of these programs are contextualized within the landscape of maternal health initiatives in the United States.

Keywords: Community engagement; Health disparities; Implementation science; Maternal health.

Publication types

Letter

Grants and funding

OT2 HL158287/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States