Enhancing Maternal and Child Health Through Engaged Patients

Abstract

A population health effort for maternal and child health Introduction Good health is essential throughout a person’s life. For this reason, the need to have a positive mindset on issues regarding health is the key to a successful healthy life throughout one’s life. However, it is imperative to note that health matters require positive patient and family engagements for the realization of successful functioning health-related institutions like healthcare, hospitals, and so forth. Maternal and child health is among the significant and critical population health efforts where the application of patient engagement frameworks can yield positive outcomes for the patient, the unborn child, and the health-providing institution. Engaged patients are always informed and thus able to make well-informed decisions about the most viable care options. Such insight is relevant in maternal and child health cases where the mother can maintain high levels of health-related concerns as an individual and for the sake of the unborn baby. A population health effort for maternal and child health defines many benefits for many hospitals, pregnant women, and unborn babies. As noted earlier, engaged patients can make the right decisions about their care options throughout their lives. In the case of pregnancy, such patients can clearly understand the need for early prenatal care services, which is of great relevance to the health of the pregnant mother and the growing fetus. Talking of informed patients, Phillips-Bell et al. (2019) researched the relationship between maternal and child health and chronic disease programs at state health agencies in Florida. They concluded that improving women's health before conception is the key to managing chronic diseases during pregnancy. Based on these authors, patient engagement in such programs will allow the health providers to enlighten patients on the need for screening, monitoring, and management of any noted chronic disorder before, during, and after pregnancy to enhance good health for both the mother and the newborn child. Regardless of the severity of such a chronic disorder, being an informed patient saves a lot during pregnancy, proving a very sensitive process. According to Lassi, Kumar, and Bhutta (2016), though patient engagement frameworks in maternal and child health have made significant progress in lowering the global mortalities rate for pregnant mothers and children under five years, such mortalities remain significantly high in low and middle-income nations. Most uninformed women die from pregnancy and childbirth complications. The fear of patient engagement is not news for these low and middle-income countries as some lack little potential to help them acquire such services while others ignore the initiative. In a report...