4 research outputs found
Climate Change is an Emerging Threat to Perinatal Mental Health
Objective:
In this discussion, we build the case for why climate change is an emerging threat to perinatal mental health.
Method:
A search of current literature on perinatal and maternal mental health and extreme weather events was conducted in PubMed/MEDLINE and Web of Science databases. Only articles focusing on maternal mental health were included in this narrative review.
Results:
The perinatal period represents a potentially challenging timeframe for women for several reasons. Necessary role adjustments (reprioritization), changes in one’s ability to access pre-birth levels (and types) of social support, fluctuating hormones, changes in body shape, and possible complications during pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum are just a few of the factors that can impact perinatal mental health. Trauma is also a risk factor for negative mood symptoms and can be experienced as the result of many different types of events, including exposure to extreme weather/natural disasters.
Conclusion:
While the concepts of “eco-anxiety,” “climate despair,” and “climate anxiety” have garnered attention in the mainstream media, there is little to no discussion of how the climate crisis impacts maternal mental health. This is an important omission as the mother’s mental health impacts the family unit as a whole
Overview and Development of the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance Determination of Cause of Death (DeCoDe) Process and DeCoDe Diagnosis Standards
Mortality surveillance and cause of death data are instrumental in improving health, identifying diseases and conditions that cause
a high burden of preventable deaths, and allocating resources to prevent these deaths. The Child Health and Mortality Prevention
Surveillance (CHAMPS) network uses a standardized process to define, assign, and code causes of stillbirth and child death (<5 years
of age) across the CHAMPS network. A Determination of Cause of Death (DeCoDe) panel composed of experts from a local
CHAMPS site analyzes all available individual information, including laboratory, histopathology, abstracted clinical records, and
verbal autopsy findings for each case and, if applicable, also for the mother. Using this information, the site panel ascertains the underlying cause (event that precipitated the fatal sequence of events) and other antecedent, immediate, and maternal causes of death
in accordance with the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision and the World Health Organization death certificate.
Development and use of the CHAMPS diagnosis standards—a framework of required evidence to support cause of death determination—assures a homogenized procedure leading to a more consistent interpretation of complex data across the CHAMPS network.
This and other standardizations ensures future comparability with other sources of mortality data produced externally to this project. Early lessons learned from implementation of DeCoDe in 5 CHAMPS sites in sub-Saharan Africa and Bangladesh have been
incorporated into the DeCoDe process, and the implementation of DeCoDe has the potential to spur health systems improvements
and local public health action
Overview and Development of the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance Determination of Cause of Death (DeCoDe) Process and DeCoDe Diagnosis Standards
Mortality surveillance and cause of death data are instrumental in improving health, identifying diseases and conditions that cause
a high burden of preventable deaths, and allocating resources to prevent these deaths. The Child Health and Mortality Prevention
Surveillance (CHAMPS) network uses a standardized process to define, assign, and code causes of stillbirth and child death (<5 years
of age) across the CHAMPS network. A Determination of Cause of Death (DeCoDe) panel composed of experts from a local
CHAMPS site analyzes all available individual information, including laboratory, histopathology, abstracted clinical records, and
verbal autopsy findings for each case and, if applicable, also for the mother. Using this information, the site panel ascertains the underlying cause (event that precipitated the fatal sequence of events) and other antecedent, immediate, and maternal causes of death
in accordance with the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision and the World Health Organization death certificate.
Development and use of the CHAMPS diagnosis standards—a framework of required evidence to support cause of death determination—assures a homogenized procedure leading to a more consistent interpretation of complex data across the CHAMPS network.
This and other standardizations ensures future comparability with other sources of mortality data produced externally to this project. Early lessons learned from implementation of DeCoDe in 5 CHAMPS sites in sub-Saharan Africa and Bangladesh have been
incorporated into the DeCoDe process, and the implementation of DeCoDe has the potential to spur health systems improvements
and local public health action