As the leading public health agency in the state, the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) provides the core public health functions and essential services of our state. MSDH’s mission is to protect and advance the health, well-being, and safety of everyone in Mississippi.

MSDH’s public health system includes policy guidance from the State Board of Health, the State Health Officer, and programmatic/administrative personnel distributed across seven main programmatic divisions: Health Administration, Health Services, Health Protection, Public Health Field Services, Public Health Regions, Communicable Disease, and Public Health Laboratory.

The major operations of the MSDH include the following:

• Disease Surveillance
• Environmental Protection
• Disease and Injury Prevention
• Standard of Care
• Immunizations
• Emergency Preparedness
• Community and Emergency Health Communications
• Licenses and Records
• Social Services

The Health Services division of the MSDH is responsible for the administration of programs under Title V MCH Block Grant. The Title V MCH Block Grant is a crucial resource tailored toward improving the health and well-being of women, infants, children, and adolescents across the state of Mississippi. Health Services oversees provision of the Women, Infants and Children's Nutrition Program (WIC); Child and Adolescent Health, including the genetic disease screening program; Women’s Health; Oral Health; the Office of Tobacco Control; and the MSDH Pharmacy. Health Serviced partners with the Office of Health Data and Research (OHDR). OHDR provides scientific integrity and quality assurance in management, surveillance, data analysis, reporting, and program evaluation related to MCH, chronic disease, and tobacco control. Title V aligns with the MSDH mission to provide services and programs that promote and improve the health and well-being of the Mississippi’s mothers, children, including children with special needs, and their families.

In 2017, the state underwent public health transitions. The state decreased from nine public health districts to three public health regions (north, central and south) with regional offices, and county health departments (See MSDH Regional Map).

Needs Assessment

Every five years, states are required to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment to identify the priority needs of women, infants, children, adolescents, and their families. This helps determine the capacity of the state’s health system to meet those needs. During the interim years of the comprehensive needs assessment, states are expected to conduct on-going needs assessments to identify any significant changes in the needs and capacity for the state.

The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) conducted the comprehensive needs assessment for the 2021-2025 cycle during 2019 and 2020 in conjunction with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), School of Public Health, Department of Health Care Organization and Policy, Applied Evaluation and Assessment Collaborative (AEAC). The AEAC entered into agreements with three community partner organizations to support the needs assessment: The University of Southern Mississippi Institute for Disability Studies, Mississippi Community Education Center, and the Family Resource Center of North Mississippi. These organizations worked with the AEAC to raise awareness of surveys, recruit focus group participants, handle logistics, and provide locations to host focus groups. Key components included:

• Quantitative analysis of key indicators
• Qualitative data collection and analysis (focus groups, key informant interviews, surveys)
• Structured process for choosing priorities based on data compiled
• Assessment of current and potential programming capacity for each identified priority

As a part of the ongoing needs assessment, the state hosts stakeholder and monthly Title V MCH team meetings. These meetings are open to MSDH staff, partner organizations and effort is made to extend the invitation broadly. During these meetings, recommendations are made for next year’s state action plan based off the evaluation of progress made on performance measures during the year.

Needs and Priorities

States are required to identify at least one priority in each of the population health domains, excluding the Cross-cutting/Systems Building domain which is optional. The six population health domains are:

• Women/Maternal Health
• Perinatal and Infant Health
• Child Health
• Adolescent Health
• Children with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN)
• Cross-cutting/Systems Building

MSDH identified priority needs for the MCH population for the 2021-2025 Block Grant Cycle. These priorities include:

• Infant Mortality (and associated factors of preterm birth and low birth weight).
• Medical Home
• Access to Care (Women, children, adolescents, and families)
• Nutrition and Physical Activity
• Maternal Morbidity and Mortality
• Breastfeeding
• Implicit Bias/Discrimination/Racism
• Mental Health across MCH Populations
• Healthy Equity
• Oral Health MCH Populations

Program Planning

The MCH Program is managed within the Mississippi State Department of Health Division of Health Services. This division includes:

• Women, Infants and Children’s Nutrition Program (WIC)
• Child and Adolescent Health
• Genetic Services
• Women/Maternal Health
• Oral Health
• Office of Tobacco Control
• MSDH Pharmacy

Each program has different identified priorities. Teams are responsible for developing and reporting on the action plan and corresponding measures. This is done in conjunction with MSDH partner organizations and stakeholders, all under the guidance of the Title V MCH Director.

Performance Reporting

The epidemiologist staff for each team leads the tracking and reporting of each measure. The Title V Needs Assessment Coordinator facilitates the tracking and visualization of all measures among the teams. This enables the Title V MCH Director, Title V Needs Assessment Coordinator, MCH Staff, and MCH Stakeholders to view the overall progress made among all priorities. A core leadership group, representing a multi-disciplinary approach, oversees MCH-related program areas that include Perinatal and Infant Health, Developmental Screening, Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs, Reproductive and Women’s Health, and Child and Adolescent Health and Oral Health

Assuring Comprehensive, Coordinated, Family Centered Services

The MCH Program assures comprehensive and coordinated services in several ways. MSDH core services such as WIC, family planning, care coordination services, community outreach and health promotion are offered in all county health departments. Title V funded MCH and CYSHCN staff work at multiple levels within MSDH: Central Office, the three public health Regions, and local health departments. This organizational structure assures that MCH/Title V and other state and federal funds are administered comprehensively to all 82 counties and that program fidelity is maintained via direct management or contract. To assure multi-directional transmission of key information and provide opportunities for sharing ideas, regular communication occurs. Similarly, to assure comprehensive coordinated family-centered services, the MCH program continues to work with families by providing education around the importance of receiving services in a patient-centered medical home and how to partner with providers in the decision-making process.

Partnerships

The MCH Program strength lies in partnerships. MSDH has pursued partnerships of all types using the collective impact framework in addition to the intentional engagement of families and customers. The descriptions below serve as examples of the myriads of partners valued by MSDH.

In 2019, the Office of Health Services, including MCH/Title V CYSHCN programs, collaborated with the agency’s pediatric consultant and the newly appointed Maternal and Child Health Engagement Coordinator to work across all MCH/Title V CYSHCN program to improve and strengthen opportunities for family/youth/consumer engagement within their programs. To expand the family/youth/consumer efforts needed to improve our programs and services, the Maternal and Child Health advisory board was developed and launch in January 2021 to serve as subject-matter experts on MCH issues across programs. The MCH advisory board is consisted of 13 members (youths, family representatives, and MCH professionals/stakeholders). Quarterly meetings are conducted for the board to provide the following guidance:  

• Review the development, implementation, and adoption of programs, policies, and strategies to ensure integration across agencies and systems.
• Advise on methods of integration at the local and state level.

• Assist in the dissemination of information on MCH services and activities.

• Represent consumers and service providers by identifying concerns and gaps in services.

• Advise use of block grant funds to address needs in local communities based on state measures and supported by data.

In addition, continued collaboration with key stakeholders is essential to Mississippi achieving its priorities for the Maternal and Child Health Services populations. The Mississippi Title V Program also works closely with the Mississippi Department of Human Services (DHS), The Division of Medicaid and MS Department of Education (DOE). Mississippi’ Title V Program further diversifies its partnerships through grant-funded activities that align with the chosen priorities. Funded entities include, but are not limited to:

• School-based health centers
• Mississippi Perinatal Quality Collaborative
• State Universities
• Community organizations
• Federally Qualified Health Centers

Leveraging of Federal and Non-Federal Funds

Aligning Title V funds within the Division of Health Services allows for planning across programs to address population health priorities by leveraging both federal and state funds for all priority areas. Title V state and federal funds have been used to support data collection and dissemination, workforce training, and facilitation of multiple partnership meetings across the state. Assuring supportive infrastructure for families is essential to preventing ACEs and the Division of Health Services has an active role via WIC (food security), family planning ( state and federal Title V funds, Title X funds, and reimbursement) and investment in the built environment.