Magazine Staff
Welcome to the first edition of MCH Data Magazine, an online magazine for maternal and child health professionals responsible for and interested in the effective use of data. MCH Data Magazine is a component of MCH Analytic Skills Online, a cooperative agreement with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau designed to promote distance learning as part of analytic capacity building in state and local health agencies.
In this issue, you have the opportunity to watch and listen to messages from Dr. Audrey Nora, M.D., MPH, Associate Administrator, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and Russell F. Scarato, Ph.D., Acting Chief, Data Analysis & Information Resources Mangement Branch, from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Drs. Nora and Scarato have both been instrumental in promoting efforts to enhance data capacity in MCH programs.
We are also pleased to share with you a speech given by Dr. Magda Peck, Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director of CityMatCH at the Carter Center. This speech challenges us to think more clearly about how we use data to communicate effectively with the broad community.
This issue also includes a presentation on the trends in prenatal care utilization as measured by several prenatal care indices. Dr. Michael Kogan from the National Center for Health Statistics gave this presentation at the 1997 annual meeting of the American Public Health Association. In addition, we are highlighting a report on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome written by Bruce Meyer, MBA from the Indiana State Department of Health.
Each issue of MCH Data Magazine will include articles that focus on data from various perspectives-from data collection, to data management, to statistical and epidemiologic analyses, to policy formation. The magazine will be a place where MCH directors, program planners and managers, policy specialists, epidemiologists, statisticians, and computer programmers can contribute ideas, projects, and methods for the MCH data community.
Our intention is to make this site as interactive as possible, facilitating exchange among colleagues and serving as an ongoing resource. This can happen in a variety of ways and we would very much appreciate your input as to which would be of most benefit to you. So, as your first participation in this effort, we ask you to provide us with feedback on the following listing of features that can be incorporated into this magazine. Please feel free to add to this list:
· Ongoing forum(s) on MCH data issues: this feature would allow you to exchange ideas and questions with colleagues on an ongoing basis. Similar to a listserv, this feature has the advantage of housing the forums on a central location (on this site) so that your personal email mailbox does not become overwhelmed with messages. Instead, you come to the magazine site at your own convenience to read and/or contribute to the forums.
We are offering this conferencing feature in this issue. Click here to begin a discussion, participate in one that has already begun, ask a question, or share an interesting reference or web site location.
· Frequently Asked Data Questions: this feature would organize and respond to discrete questions about data use. This might include, for example, statistical or epidemiologic questions, software issues, or report writing questions. Unlike a forum, FAQ's are fairly static, without the ability to have ongoing discussion. On the other hand, they offer a quick resource for specific issues.
The goal is to make this site function like a conference table in the office down the hall, or maybe the space around the coffeemaker-a place where MCH professionals can gather to find useful tools that contribute to their day-to day work.
We look forward to hearing from you! Deborah Rosenberg, PhD and Colleen Monahan, DC, MPH drose@uic.edu cmonahan@uic.edu
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