CERTIFICATE IN MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH

Certificate Director: Sarah Blake, Associate Professor, Health Policy and Management, scblake@emory.edu

Certificate Coordinator: Eve Rose, Deputy Director, The Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health (housed in Health Policy and Management); erose2@emory.edu

Official Certificate in Maternal and Child Health Site

The Certificate in Maternal and Child Health equips students for public health work serving women, infants, and children. It features a comprehensive curriculum taught by faculty with expertise in domains such as the life course, epidemiology, and women’s health.

Who Is This Certificate For?

Students interested in improving maternal and child health at local, national, or international levels.

Competencies of the Certificate in Maternal and Child Health

Upon completion of the certificate, the graduate will be able to:

• Use data to identify issues related to the health status of a particular MCH population group, describing health disparities within MCH populations, and offering strategies to address them.

• Demonstrate the use of a systems approach to explain the interactions among individuals, groups, organizations, and communities.

• Use self-reflection techniques effectively to enhance program development, scholarship, and interpersonal relationships, recognizing that personal attitudes, beliefs, and experiences (successes and failures) influence one’s leadership style.

• Identify ethical dilemmas and issues that affect MCH population groups.

• Describe the ethical implications of health disparities within MCH populations with an awareness of ethical issues in patient care, human-subjects research, and public health theory and practice.

• An awareness of ethical issues in patient care, human-subjects research, and public health theory and practice.

• Initiate and act as a catalyst for the discussion of these dilemmas and issues. Conduct personal self-assessments regarding cultural competence, assessing strengths of individuals and communities and responding appropriately to their needs based on sensitivity to and respect for their diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic status.

• Describe strategies to assure culturally sensitive public health and health service delivery systems, integrating cultural competency into programs, research, scholarship, and policies.

• Operationalize the “family-centered care” philosophical constructs and use these constructs to critique and strengthen practices, programs, or policies that affect MCH population groups.

• Describe how family perspectives play a pivotal role in MCH research, clinical practice, programs, or policy.

• Recognize and create learning opportunities for others.

• Participate in a mutually beneficial mentoring relationship.

• Identify strengths of team members appropriate to a given task and facilitate group processes for team-based decisions valuing and honoring diverse perspectives.

• Participate in basic strategic planning processes such as developing a mission, vision, strategic goals, and activities, identifying community stakeholders and their level of engagement in the collaboration process.

• Understand the roles and relationships of groups involved in the public policy development and implementation process, including the branches of government.

• Analyze the potential impact of policies on diverse population groups.

• Use data, levels of evidence, and evaluative criteria in proposing policy change.

• Frame problems based on key data, including economic, political, and social trends that affect the MCH population.