Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH)
About MNCH
Notre Dame’s Eck Institute for Global Health (EIGH) is committed to addressing the critical healthcare needs of pregnant and postpartum women and their children. The EIGH fosters interdisciplinary collaborations and inspires advancements to improve maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) outcomes within communities in Indiana and around the world.
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Community Collaboration and Impact
The EIGH MNCH team is leveraging existing and new partnerships with local, national, and global organizations to improve outcomes for mothers and babies.
In continuation of MNCH efforts at the EIGH, the MNCH team is working with community, national, and global partners to organize events aimed at improving maternal and child health standards.
The EIGH hosted a maternal mental health event along with two community partners in the Spring of 2023; the St Joseph County Department of Health and Beacon Community Impact. The event offered continuing education to healthcare providers. It reinforced the need for advanced detection and treatment methods to address depression and anxiety during the perinatal period, and it offered practical resources to frontline healthcare professionals.
View the maternal health community resource guide
MNCH Speaker Series
The MNCH Speaker Series aims to bring awareness to local and global health-related issues that impact mothers and their children, especially those disproportionately affected or from under-resourced communities.
The speaker series was launched in Spring 2023 featuring Dr. Patience Afulani, assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Afulani presented a community-health system-city partnership that delivers co-located clinical care, government/public health entitlements, and wraparound services in high-need neighborhoods, as a "one-stop-shop," health delivery model.
Following the success of the first MNCH Speaker, a Maternal/Infant Health Symposium was held on November 3, 2023.
The second installment of the MNCH Speaker Series is planned for March 22, 2024 from 9:30am-11:45am. Bernadette Melnyk, Professor of Evidence-based Practice at The Ohio State University's College of Nursing will share insights on how investigators can strategically design their research to effectively partner with healthcare systems for research innovation and translation. For more information, please visit the event webpage on the Eck Institute website.
MNCH Working Group
The Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) Working Group mobilizes individuals across the University who work on maternal, newborn and/or child health research, and is looking to further expand its reach by welcoming interested campus partners to address these complex health challenges. Its goal is to generate interdisciplinary collaborations and to inspire advancements within the South Bend community and around the world to reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality.
The MNCH Working Group is one of EIGH’s several strategic and ongoing efforts to improve the health and well-being of mothers, newborns, and children.
If you are interested in joining the EIGH’s MNCH Working Group, please fill out this form.
Current and On-going MNCH Research Projects Include
Lead poisoning prevention: Notre Dame-Lead Innovation Team (LIT)
Investigating Obstetric Violence: The Role of Social Inequality in Cesareans
Mental health in Palestinian conflict region