Hundreds representatives from the Georgia Department Public Health are converging in Athens this week. For the third year in a row, workers from all district in the state are meeting at the Georgia Center for the Maternal and Child Health Conference.
Fredrick Dobard senior manager for planning and partnerships at Georgia Department of Public Health. That’s the state office that facilitates all the policies for public health.
“Typically we have our normal program updates, where we give people information about policy changes and those kind of things so they can do their work better in the districts,” according to Dobard. “We also bring in new they may not have had a chance to learn about. This year we had a particular focus, we had a preconference we added this year. A focus on maternal mortality in Georgia and we brought in some great national speakers.”
Georgia is at the bottom of the list when it comes to maternal mortality rates in the nation. According to the dept. of public health’s website, 60% of the state’s pregnancy related deaths are preventable.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports the U.S. is the only developed county with a rising maternal mortality rate.
There 26 pregnancy-related deaths for every 100,000 live births, with black women 3.3 times more likely to die from those complications than white women.
California is the healthiest state with a rate of 4.5, while Georgia comes in near the bottom of the list with 46.2, according to the United Health Foundation.
Dobard says the conference is particularly helpful for those in rural communities.
“We have lots of rural places in Georgia, as so resources are scarce. Transportation and how are people being able to leverage access, and that type of thing; so when we all come together and we can share best practic3es, we can serve the communities much, much better.”
There are 18 public health districts in the state.
The conference, which began Sunday, wraps up Tuesday.
