Several of our second-year MCH students are looking forward to attending the 2024 CityMatCH Leadership and MCH Epidemiology Conference in Seattle, WA, on September 9-11. With the theme “Reaching New Heights: Strengthening MCH Across Generations,” the event brought together over 600 professionals and students in the Maternal and Child Health field. Below is a reflection from our attendees!
By: Kenneshia Cohen
Kenneshia Cohen is a second-year MPH student, concentrating in Maternal and Child Health and Violence Prevention. Her research interests are the intersection of Black Maternal Health and Intimate Partner Violence. Kenneshia has both a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts. Upon graduating from Tulane, she plans to attend Medical School and open a medical practice.
National Institute for Reproductive Health – City Scores
This past September was my first time attending the CityMatch Conference. I was super excited to attend a conference that focuses solely on Maternal and Child Health! Throughout the conference, I made great connections and learned a lot about what different health departments and organizations are doing in the field of Maternal and Child Health. Throughout the conference, I attended about ten different sessions each looking at a different field of Maternal and Child Health that I have not previously looked at or thought about.
One session that I found extremely impactful was the ‘Data Tools for Reproductive Health.’ This session left an impact on me because we discussed the different types of data collection methods and the types of tools that are currently out there. It was interesting to talk about other available databases, besides the one that is constantly talked about in class. The most interesting portion of the session was learning about a new database that was created by the National Institute for Reproductive Health. This database receives requests from local health departments and community leaders to partner with them to include their city in the database. This database looks at many aspects of Maternal and Child Health weighs them out and gives the city a score based on the criteria. This portion stood out to me the most because it was directly guided by officials within the community, so the data is up-to-date and a more accurate portrayal of the community. I was also intrigued by the different city’s scores and learning about all the resources different cities had to offer.
