Preventing Infant Mortality in Georgia February 2019 | Page 14

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Healthcare Georgia Foundation
plans to sustain the initiative after completion of the program. All programs plan to continue the major
components of TCOY after the completion of the initiative, including reproductive life planning, breastfeeding
education and support, and infant sleep safety education and outreach. Despite the staffing shortages and limited
funding, program staff feel invested in these critical healthcare services and know that their clients have
benefited from them. All program staff wanted additional staff and financial resources to expand their programs
to other communities in need.
roviding financial and technical support to implement and evaluate the Taking Care of You Initiative in
selected Georgia health departments resulted in notable capacity development of grantees, in terms of
their ability to collect and use objective process and outcome data for program improvement and outcome
evaluation, and yielded notable successes in implementing and measuring new intervention strategies that supported
improving rates of preterm birth, low birth weight, and safe sleep. Implementation of TCOY in high-disparity
communities served by public health departments may be an important strategy for improving infant health outcomes
in these communities, and early findings show promise for addressing risk for preterm birth and sleep-related infant
deaths. Mixed success around low birth weight underscores the importance of continuing efforts to address women’s
health and prenatal care in these communities.

TCOY has been an inspiration and a key resource for grantees to serve women at high-risk for adverse
maternal and infant health outcomes.
 TCOY program staff offered medical, emotional, and educational support to high-risk women during
and after their pregnancies, and the women greatly valued it.
 Implementing and monitoring takes time and requires human and financial resources, but the
provision of tools and assistance contributes to capacity development for process improvement and
monitoring of program outcomes.
 TCOY serves as an important public health model for improving infant health outcomes and may be
applied to other high-risk populations.
 The underlying factors that contribute to poor birth and infant health outcomes also contribute to
poor maternal health outcomes, namely, lack of access to quality healthcare and family planning
services before and between pregnancies and to quality prenatal and post-birth care. Creating
partnerships with those working across the maternal-infant health continuum to attract resources
and support policy, practice, and community level initiatives to improve women’s and infants’ access
to the continuum of preventive, primary, and reproductive healthcare is essential.