Increasing the Uptake of Prenatal Care Services
UPenn BETR Collective, United States of America, 2023
Increasing the Uptake of Prenatal Care Services
The United States has some of the highest maternal mortality rates and number of stillborn babies among developed countries. Though healthcare access is a major issue, even when provided, there are still unique barriers to service usage. The Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), a nonprofit that aims to improve community health outcomes, ran into this problem after taking over an emergency-care hospital in West Philadelphia. Despite now offering federally-funded prenatal care services and high quality physicians, the new clinic struggled to attract patients from surrounding low-income and majority-immigrant communities. During this event, PHMC partnered with the UPenn BETR Collective to design behavioral interventions for increasing use of prenatal services at their new clinic. Philadelphia students from over 16 different majors came together over 48 hours to solve this challenge.