To improve maternal health outcomes, reduce disparities and expand health care access, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Mississippi gave more than $285,000 in grants to several Mississippi organizations focused on maternal and infant health.
"Poor maternal and infant health outcomes remain unacceptably high across the country, and particularly in Mississippi, with Black women and infants bearing a disproportionate burden of adverse outcomes,” said Jeff Wedin, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Mississippi CEO.
Mississippi comes in last for low birth weight babies.1 In the state, more than one out of every 10 infants born under 5 pounds and 8 ounces, according to America's Health Ratings. Black women in Mississippi also have a 43% higher rate of giving birth prematurely, according to March of Dimes.2 Both premature and low birth weight infants are more likely to have physical disabilities or developmental challenges.
Grants were awarded to:
- Catholic Charities, Inc: $48,000 to support its Born Free/New Beginnings program.
- Delta Health Alliance: $40,000 toward baby supplies, creating a women's advisory council.
- Diaper Bank of the Delta: $10,000 to provide essential items and information to low-income women delivering at local hospitals.
- Edwards Street Fellowship Center: $40,000 for its diaper, feminine product banks, and women's health program.
- Pickles & Popsicles Inc: $10,000 to support mothers through the mental, emotional and physical challenges of motherhood.
- Mississippi Public Health Institute/The Jackson Safer Childbirth Experience: $77,700 to expand postpartum and perinatal mood disorder support for families.
- Mississippi SIDS & Infant Safety Alliance: $20,000 toward the Cribs for Kids Program that gives cribs to families in need, and for the Baby Basics Program providing safe sleep training.
- Spring Initiative's Baby University: $40,000 for the Uplifting Mamas Community Doula Program that gives pregnant and postpartum women support during pregnancy and the first three months post-partum.
We are committed to deploying supports and services to assist our partners working on the frontlines to remove healthcare disparities for all Mississippians.
