AMCHP defines “global health” as seeking to achieve equity in all that we do, in a way that promotes the well-being of every individual worldwide. In recognizing the inherent value in learning from global health insights and perspectives to address potential gaps in the maternal and child health (MCH) evidence base, AMCHP launched its Global Health Initiative in 2020.
Through this initiative, AMCHP is committed to identifying and sharing culturally appropriate best practices, bright spots, and insights from the global community with Title V and its partners and aims to value and uplift community expertise and cultural diversity in public health practice as well as create a space for collaborative, transnational learning in MCH. AMCHP does this through three main activities: identifying and adding global MCH practices in the MCH Innovations Database, the Sharing Global Approaches, Creating Local Outcomes: MCH Global Health Webinar Series, and the case studies series.
This work is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number U01MC00001 Partnership for State Title V MCH Leadership Community Cooperative Agreement ($1,617,500).
Current Initiatives
Program Areas
Title V
The main impetus behind implementing this initiative at AMCHP was to provide support to Title V to be innovative in overcoming gaps in the domestic MCH evidence base as well identifying possible solutions to address persistent MCH challenges such as maternal and infant mortality and mental health, among others, by being exposed to effective ideas from around the globe.
Title V-related goals of this initiative include:
- Engage Title V members in discourse on the value of a global perspective and global practices exchange leverage global health knowledge and expertise to better serve the ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse MCH groups receiving and participating in Title V services and programs across the U.S. and the U.S. jurisdictions
- Enhance Title V’s access to new and innovative MCH resources
- Build capacity for collaboration within Title V as well as with global partners in MCH
- Increase Title V’s knowledge of community-driven implementation strategies that are proven to work in MCH
- Support Title V staff to engage in servant leadership (e.g. leading with the goal of meeting community needs and building on community strength) with cultural humility.
Jurisdictions and Tribal Nations
Through this initiative, AMCHP seeks to also highlight the health disparities existing in the U.S. Jurisdictions and Tribal Nations, while also promoting the successes of health workers in these areas to eliminate disparities and uplift their communities. In line with the goals of this workgroup, identifying the bright spots of practice within the Jurisdictions and Tribal Nations is a critical step in addressing global MCH issues. In doing so, the domestic U.S. MCH workforce and the MCH workforce within these communities will be able to increase in collaboration and learning. The workgroup seeks to offer spaces for Tribal Nation and U.S. Jurisdiction voice and practices through upcoming webinars, conference submissions, and written articles.
Global Practices
Through its initiatives the Global Health Committee seeks to share successful global practices to its members as resources for innovative MCH solutions. Currently, the GHC is engaged in a webinar series exploring global and local initiatives. In addition, the GHC led the AMCHP 2021 Conference planning with the theme of “Global Meets Local” with emphasis on global health practice as key sessions and workshops. The GHC has also published written pieces that expand on global health thinking and practice, and will publish accompanying pieces to the webinar series as case studies of global MCH practice.
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