Healthy Mothers Promote Healthy Communities

Healthy Mothers Promote Healthy Communities

Walking through the racially diverse city of Camden New Jersey you see find closed-down schools, boarded store fronts, tons of trash and debris, burned-out shells of churches and homes, homelessness, drug sets, abandoned cars, and crime in abundance. The despair is palpable. You will also find 35% of its African-American, Hispanic, Polish, German, and Asian population living in poverty - a large number of which are single mothers. Camden, NJ has the highest percentage of single parent households in the country at 66.8% (City Data - Camden, NJ, n.d.) and without proper health-care and human services offered by agencies like Healthy Mothers - Healthy Babies (HMHB) and St. Joseph's Carpenters Society (SJCS) these mothers would continue to struggle to gain access to basic needs like food and housing and in some cases the human services offered also include secondary needs such as education and emotional support. According to CARE, an international humanitarian aid agency, the most effective way to reduce poverty is to target women and girl. Human services agencies Healthy Mothers - Healthy Babies and St. Joseph's Carpentry Society are reducing poverty and promoting healthy communities poverty by focusing their efforts on assisting single mothers.

Current issues affecting single, pregnant mothers in Camden, NJ and lower income communities all over the United States are pre-term deliveries and low birth weights due to socioeconomic factors such as low income, lack of education, and limited access to prenatal health care or no prenatal health care. Health Mothers - Healthy Babies, founded in 1985, is focused on preventing preterm births and improving the health of mothers and children in southern New Jersey. One fast growing population of infants with low birth weights is among those with undocumented mothers. These women can find themselves isolated and unfamiliar with how to navigate the U.S. healthcare system, increasing their chances of pre-term deliveries and low birth weights. With help from HMHB these women have a chance to gain access to education and healthcare and with housing and job placement assistance from St. Joseph's Carpentry Society women are able to take a lead in their community, support their families to be healthy and prosperous (Poxon, 2010).

While the services and programs offered by Healthy Mothers - Healthy Babies and St. John's Carpenter's Society are beneficial to promoting healthy communities, they are only effective when women can actually can receive the assistance. The majority of women who are in need of these services will never receive them because the waiting lists are up to four years long. With Camden City having the highest rate of single-parent households in the country, these two organizations cannot support the needs of this community. Additional programs are needed. Additional funding