Washington is among 33 states that don’t have active birth-defects surveillance systems to track problems. It took an astute nurse to raise warnings about a cluster of rare and fatal defects in Central Washington.
Women's and Maternal Health
The Food and Drug Administration will review a long-delayed petition calling for the voluntary addition of folic acid to corn masa to prevent neural-tube defects such as those seen in Washington’s cluster.
More than 40 mothers have lost babies to a rare and deadly birth defect in three counties in central Washington state since 2010, but the cause remains unknown. Why haven’t health officials and lawmakers done more to find answers?
A hospital in Marin County, California, has successfully lowered its Cesarean-section rates by employing nurse midwives. As KRCB’s Danielle Venton reports, duplicating those results around the state is going to require some creative thinking.
Last week, columnist William Heisel criticized the new California Healthcare Compare's website for how it rates hospitals on childbirth, noting that the tool focused too heavily on C-sections and breastfeeding. This week, he offers five indicators that would give potential patients a fuller picture.
A study of Holocaust survivors is casting new light on our understanding of trauma’s effects on the body. The research suggests that extreme trauma can manifest itself in our genetic fingerprints — and that these changes can be passed on to the next generation.
When it came to reaching low-income mothers suffering from maternal depression and other issues, the old ways of reaching out to moms weren't working. So the New Haven-based MOMS Partnership started taking the services to where moms are — including the local supermarket.
Twenty-one journalists from around the nation will receive reporting grants from the new Fund for Journalism on Child Well-Being, the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism and the National Health Journalism Fellowship.
The concept of "toxic stress" has rapidly gained currency in recent years to explain the damaging effects sustained stress and instability can have on young children. Reporter Daisy Rosario is exploring how such stress impacts underserved communities, and how it might be addressed through services.
In Texas, alarmingly high rates of babies have been born with syphilis. It's since become clear that one of the causes is lack of sufficient prenatal care among some communities. The women receiving the least amount of proper medical care are often the ones who need it the most.