Maternal and Child health care data updated to Public Health Community Map


Maternal and Child health care data updated to Public Health Community Map

SPRINGFIELD, IL — The Illinois Department of Public Health says they have added maternal and child health data to their public health community map.

IDPH says the community map features information about the quality of and access to health care in communities throughout Illinois, and highlights socioeconomic, geographic, and racial and ethnic disparities.

“The addition of maternal and child health data can help clinicians, health care administrators, community stakeholders, and legislators identify areas where additional community resources and/or education are needed,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “These data will ultimately help us improve maternal and child health outcomes.”

Data categories include low birth weight, breastfeeding, prenatal care in the first trimester, smoking during pregnancy, and teen birth rate, says the IDPH.

The department says other new data elements are alcohol-impaired driving deaths, uninsured people under 65-years, unemployed people 16-years and older who are looking for work, and children younger than 18 living in poverty.

IDPH says they are updating asthma, behavioral health, cardiovascular, diabetes, emergency department visits, heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and readmission data.

The department says the open data can be used as a platform for ideas, advocacy, planning, and policy. They say the priorities of the community map are to increase high quality and affordable health care to all Illinoisians and to eliminate disparities. Data in the map can be used to increase awareness of health issues in communities and determine healthcare resource needs, the departments says.

The Illinois Public Health Community Map can be found on the IDPH website.




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