The Migrant Health News Source

streamline Quality prenatal care is designed to pro-mote health and reduce risks for women, infants, and families before, during, and after pregnancy. Timely, comprehensive prenatal care with increased social support can improve patient satisfaction and atten-dance at prenatal appointments.10,14 Studies show that this type of care can also reduce the likelihood of pregnancy complications, postpartum depression, and adverse perina-tal outcomes.2,6,10 Prenatal care can be a unique window of opportunity for preventive care among Hispanic families offering education, support, advocacy, referral, and outreach. For exam-ple, pregnancy and childbirth, the most common reasons for hospital admissions, are often a Hispanic family’s first contact with the US healthcare system.1, 11 The central role women have in Hispanic culture with respect to the health of their families makes reaching and engaging Hispanic women a critical strategy in efforts to reduce dispari-ties and improve health outcomes for adults and children in these communities. Despite progress in recent years, however, Hispanic women continue to receive poorer quality of care for 75 % of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s measures for women’s health services, including accessi-bility and availability of early, quality prenatal care.1 Developing the healthcare system’s capac-ity to provide quality, linguistically and cul-turally appropriate prenatal education and care for Hispanics is critical. Currently at 11 million, over the next several decades the proportion of Hispanic women in their child-bearing years is projected to increase 92%.12 Innovative approaches will be required since our current clinic and care delivery structures are not able to meet existing needs. To heighten this urgency, the growing numbers of uninsured Hispanics are placing increasing demands on the healthcare safety net, already stressed by federal fundin