An Urban Perinatal Health Programme of Strategies to Improve Perinatal Health

• Published in: Maternal and child health journal Vol. 16; no. 8; pp. 1553 - 1558
• Main Authors: Denktaş, S., Bonsel, G. J., Van der Weg, E. J., Voorham, A. J. J., Torij, H. W., De Graaf, J. P., Wildschut, H. I. J., Peters, I. A., Birnie, E., Steegers, E. A. P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01-11-2012; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Childrens health; Ethnicity - statistics & numerical data; Female; Gynecology; Health aspects; Health care; Health care policy; Health care reform; Health disparities; Health policy; Health promotion; Health Promotion - methods; Healthcare Disparities; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Maternal and Child Health; Medical personnel; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Midwifery; Morbidity; Mortality; Netherlands - epidemiology; Notes from the Field; Obstetrics; Patient outcomes; Pediatrics; Perinatal Care - methods; Perinatal Care - standards; Perinatal Mortality - ethnology; Population Economics; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Outcome - ethnology; Premature birth; Program Development; Public Health; Risk Factors; Socioeconomic factors; Sociology; Urban areas; Urban Health; Urban Population; Womens health; Netherlands; Pregnancy; Urban perinatal health; Perinatal mortality; Innovation; Structured interventions; Health promotion
• ISSN: 1092-7875; 1573-6628
• DOI: 10.1007/s10995-011-0873-y

Promotion of a healthy pregnancy is a top priority of the health care policy in many European countries. Perinatal mortality is an important indicator of the success of this policy. Recently, it was shown that the Netherlands has relatively high perinatal death rates when compared to other European countries. This is in particular true for large cities where perinatal mortality rates are 20–50% higher than elsewhere. Consequently in the Netherlands, there is heated debate on how to tackle these problems. Without the introduction of measures throughout the entire perinatal health care chain, pregnancy outcomes are difficult to improve. With the support of health care professionals, the City of Rotterdam and the Erasmus University Medical Centre have taken the initiative to develop an urban perinatal health programme called ‘Ready for a Baby’. The main objective of this municipal 10-year programme is to improve perinatal health and to reduce perinatal mortality in all districts to at least the current national average of l0 per 1000. Key elements are the understanding of the mechanisms of the large health differences between women living in deprived and non-deprived urban areas. Risk guided care, orientation towards shared-care and improvement of collaborations between health care professionals shapes the interventions that are being developed. Major attention is given to the development of methods to improve risk-selection before and during pregnancy and methods to reach low-educated and immigrant groups.