The National Institutes of Health today announced the final winners of its Connecting the Community for Maternal Health Challenge. Eight nonprofit organizations received cash prizes for their efforts to develop, implement, and conduct research projects to improve maternal health outcomes in their communities.
“Strong community engagement in research is crucial to address the maternal health needs and priorities of diverse and disproportionately affected groups,” said Diana W. Bianchi, M.D., director of NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). “This challenge encouraged community-based organizations to develop the infrastructure and capabilities to conduct research to reduce pregnancy-related complications and deaths in the communities they serve.”
NICHD sponsored the two-year challenge as part of NIH’s Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) Initiative, which seeks to reduce preventable causes of maternal deaths and improve health before, during, and after pregnancy. HeroX, in partnership with FedTech, supported the design, implementation, and management of the challenge on behalf of NIH through a multi-award contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
More than 90 non-academic, 501(c)(3) organizations based in the United States applied to participate in the multi-phase challenge, which launched in September 2022. Forty-five organizations that were accepted into the Gathering Phase participated in online training and submitted one-page summaries introducing their research idea. The 15 Gathering Phase winners each received a $10,000 prize and an invitation to participate in the Proposal Phase, during which they received further training and mentoring to develop a comprehensive research proposal. The nine Proposal Phase winners each earned an additional $150,000 prize and an invitation to participate in the Research Phase. During this final phase, the eight participating organizations continued to receive training and one-on-one mentorship as they implemented their project plans, conducted the proposed research, and reported preliminary results. Approximately $1.5 million in cash prizes was distributed among the Research Phase winners.
Nurturely of Eugene, Oregon, received first place for “Carrying for the Culture: An Infant Carrying Intervention for Health Equity,” a project to test the effect of an infant carrying intervention on lactation and postpartum depression among Black parents. After taking a culturally informed infant-carrying training, perinatal care providers reported higher levels of infant carrying confidence and knowledge. The team is beginning recruitment for a randomized controlled trial to assess whether using an infant carrier after birth can decrease symptoms of postpartum depression and increase lactation.
Second place was awarded to Central Jersey Family Health Consortium of North Brunswick, New Jersey. Their project, “Can It Happen to Me? Developing a Pre-Pregnancy Maternal Morbidity Risk Algorithm,” seeks to develop a data-driven tool to identify maternal risk factors and pregnancy outcomes. They used a national dataset including more than 1 million births to develop an algorithm that shows promise for predicting risk for severe pregnancy-related complications based on pre-pregnancy medical records. The team is continuing to refine their algorithm and is exploring possibilities to assess it in collaboration with a hospital system.
The following organizations, listed alphabetically along with project name, tied for third place:
- The Abundance Project, Colorado. Impact of Postpartum Doulas on Mental Health and Hypertension in BIPOC Mothers
- Atlanta Birth Center, Georgia. Wellness Within: Promoting Healing Centered Tools for Pregnancy, Birth, and Beyond
- Buffalo Prenatal Perinatal Network, Inc., New York. Survivor Moms’ Companion: A Perinatal Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Program
- Claris Health, California. Maternal Health Literacy for Nutrition Care Equity
- Doula CO-OP of Nevada. Culturally Congruent Doula Care: The Missing Lens into Maternal Mental Health
- HealthConnect One, Illinois. Acceptability of Mental Health First Aid Training Among Community Doulas to Reduce Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders & Maternal Mortality in the U.S.
To learn more about these organizations’ research, access a recording of their presentations at the July 11, 2024, Connecting the Community Research Showcase.
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