Virginia beach department of public health - in accordance with HHS's healthy people 2030 plan and the CDC's national center for chronic disease prevention and health promotion's mission to reduce…

Virginia beach department of public health - in accordance with HHS's healthy people 2030 plan and the CDC's national center for chronic disease prevention and health promotion's mission to reduce risk factors for chronic diseases among vulnerable populations, the virginia department of public health (VBDPH) has assembled a leadership team comprised of various regional stakeholder organizations representing health systems, higher education, economic development, non-profit, faith-based, and local government entities with one shared vision: to address maternal and infant mortality rate in virginia beach. With the expertise and guidance of these community leaders, our goal is to develop an implementation-ready sdoh accelerator plan over an eleven-month period that will be adopted by all stakeholders as we seek to improve health outcomes for minority and underserved women and their children within our health district. The following organizations have been engaged for this project: sentara (local healthcare system) ywca (national recreation organization) evms (regional medical school) chkd (pediatric health system) grow smart (early childhood education initiative partnership with department of economic development in the city of virginia beach) virginia department of health virginia beach department of public health (including related programs such as babycare, healthy families, and WIC) the mount (faith-based organization) additional outreach is planned to include representation from neighboring local health districts, city of virginia beach department of human services, city of virginia beach department of agriculture, and additional faith-based organizations. Priority sdoh areas to be addressed 1) community-clinical linkages: increasing locally available data and resources to address maternal and infant mortality (including improved access to preventive health services and support for pregnant women and infants) 2) food and nutrition security: enhancing education and durable access to nutritious foods for pregnant women and infants to improve overall health and wellbeing. Goal focus: VBDPH seeks this funding to address social determinants of health that impact maternal mortality and infant health here in the city of virginia beach. Consequently, we seek to play a leading role in coordinating efforts and sharing best practices among neighboring health districts comprising coastal virginia.