Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,

where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges.

If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jh.edu.

That's public health question at jh.hU.edu for future podcast episodes.

This is Josh Sharfstein.

Today we look at a remarkable program in West Baltimore that has reduced infant mortality and improved other health outcomes for more than a decade.

I speak to Stacey Stevens, the social worker who directs this effort for the University of Maryland School of Social Work.

Joining her is Gzelle Joseph,

a community health worker and certified

lactation consultant in the program.

The secret to their success, it's not an app,

it's not a quick fix, it's years of grassroots organizing and outreach.

Check out our show notes for how to learn more and even contribute. Let's listen.

Stacey Stevens, thank you so much for joining us on public health on call. I want to start with

a little bit of background. What is Bemore for Healthy Babies? Thanks for having us on today, Josh.

Be More for Healthy Babies is first and foremost a citywide initiative out, located in Baltimore

City, out of the Baltimore City Health Department, and also Healthcare Access, Maryland Maryland and the Family League of Baltimore

that has been doing a collective impact model to ensure that every baby born in Baltimore

is able to be born healthy and of a great weight and able to live in a thriving and thriving families and

communities. And it was started in 2009 to ensure that we were addressing at that point concerns

about the increase of the infant mortality rate.

And we know that, and your listening audience may know as well,

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