EDITOR'S NOTE Overview of NFIMR Conference T


he 7th National Fetal and Infant Mortality Review conference, entitled “FIMR: Opportunities to Achieve Health Equity” was held June 7–9 2012 in Arlington, Virginia. Approximately 200 participants attended the three day conference,


which featured many prominent speakers, including Dr. Michael Lu from the Maternal Child Health Bureau. The keynote speaker was Carol Brady, Executive Director of the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition. Her impassioned address focused on expanding the scope of FIMR comprehensive and culturally competent actions. She encouraged FIMR programs to widen their ideas about tackling the need for big community change and resisting the notion that “if it’s not a direct health problem, it’s not FIMR’s problem.” Several panel discussions took place, including a first of its kind discussion of national efforts to address health disparities and achieve health equity which featured the executive directors from HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH), the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the National Association of City and County Health Officers (NACCHO), and the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP). This exciting panel session was filmed with the generous support from United Health Foundation. As a result, the video is available for viewing online here.


The meeting concluded with a rousing session led by Dr. Magda Peck, the Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Energized by her presentation, participants wrote down “promises” or “action items” about changes related to LCT and health equity that they planned to implement in their local FIMR program. These calls to action are featured on the main page of the NFIMR website as both a reminder to conference participants but also as inspiration to other FIMR programs.


NFIMR Director: Kathleen Buckley


NFIMR Program Specialist, Newsletter Editor: Shreya Durvasula


Prepared by the National Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Program (NFIMR), a collaborative effort between the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), Health Resources and Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services (Cooperative Agreement #U93MC00136). For twenty years, MCHB and ACOG have worked together to provide leadership and continued support for communities and states to improve service systems and resources for women, infants and families through the NFIMR Resource Center.


Copyright © 2013 by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 409 12th ST, SW, PO Box 96920, Washington DC 20024. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission from the publisher, unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law, 45 CFR Part 74, or the following sentence. State and local departments of health, FIMR programs, and community groups have permission to copy and/ or adapt all or any portion of this publication for use in conducting fetal and infant mortality reviews.


2 A publication of the National Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Program


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