Maternal Health Improvment: Reducing rates of Low Birth Weight in Cwm Taf
Angela Jones, Ymgynghorydd Iechyd y Cyhoedd, Iechyd Cyhoeddus Cymru-
What was/is the public health challenge or issue?
Reducing smoking rates and Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 30 in pregnant women, to reduce the prevalence of babies born to a low birth weight in Cwm Taf.
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What was done/being done to address this?/ Who has collaborated on this work?/ What are the main outcomes/findings or suggestions for future work?
A range of projects have been undertaken to address this public health challenge within Cwm Taf.
BASICs project: in collaboration with the University of South Wales, the Cwm Taf Local Public Health team undertook a survey which asked pregnant women about their perceived barriers to stopping smoking during pregnancy. Findings indicate there was a lack of referral from midwifes onto smoking cessation services, women were unaware of the availability of smoking cessation services and women were decreasing their smoking levels rather than stopping entirely. This information was fed back to midwifes.
As a result of the findings of this project, Public Health Wales in collaboration with the local health board developed the MAMSS project. Funded by Cwm Taf University Health Board R&D Office as part of their Pathway to Portfolio development funds, the project established Carbon Monoxide Monitoring and provision of maternity support workers to increase rates of smoking quit rates in pregnancy. The primary outcome measure was engagement with the service. The secondary outcome measure was the number of referrals to the service, number of sessions attended and quit rates of pregnant women. Compared to a control locality within the health board, for those offered the intervention findings were positive for all outcomes.
The Low Birth Weight Programme consisted of MAMSS and in addition, a new maternal obesity service called BumpStart. As part of their standard antenatal care, pregnant women with a BMI of 35 or over were offered additional sessions with a Healthy Lifestyle Midwife and dietician. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the service is/has been undertaken.
The MAMSS service is still continuing via funding from Flying Start and there are plans to promote scaling up of the service across Wales. In addition, maternal obesity services are currently being developed further through the Best Start service. This service is being funded by the Burdett Trust as a research project focussing on women with a BMI of 30 or over. Once BumpStart and Best Start has been fully evaluated and there is sufficient evidence to support the further development of the services, business cases will be created to roll out the services across other localities.
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