<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/infant-mortality-stable-housing-experiment-ohio/>
"By the time she was 34, Kayla (not her real name) had lost five babies. Out of
10 pregnancies, three ended in miscarriage. Yet more tragically still, two of
Kayla’s babies passed away in the early stages of their life — one after being
born premature at 30 weeks and another, also born premature, dying in a
sleep-related accident.
In 2019, the single mom of five was pregnant again, and she was close to
becoming homeless. A combination of health conditions, criminal record and poor
credit score were hindering her ability to secure housing. Due to her
circumstances, Kayla was selected to take part in Healthy Beginnings At Home
(HBAH), a program based in Columbus, Ohio, that provides rental assistance and
other housing support to pregnant women in unstable housing situations.
HBAH was initially designed as a research study, coordinated by CelebrateOne
Columbus, an infant mortality prevention organization, and the Health Policy
Institute of Ohio. Its goal: to establish the effect of housing instability on
infant mortality — and to highlight the difference that rental assistance and
support can make. Kayla was one of 100 participants. She was also among the
half of the participants randomly selected to receive the housing support —
part of what was to be known as the intervention group, to be compared with the
outcomes for the other half in the control group.
Many of the moms in the study had bad or poor credit (or no credit at all), a
history of criminal justice involvement, lack of income and electric bill
arrears. Most of them were Black, with HBAH researchers pointing to previous
studies concluding that structural racism and racial discrimination in housing
can lead to adverse health outcomes, including inequities in the risk of
preterm birth.
With a HBAH support specialist, Kayla found an affordable, safe and quiet
apartment on the South Side of Columbus, with rental payments and a utility
allowance fully covered by the program for 15 months, then partially for a
further six months. During her time in the study — and with a home to go back
to — Kayla went on to deliver a healthy baby girl in the spring of 2019, the
first of her children to be born at full term."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
