Title V Maternal & Child Health Needs Assessment

Department of Health (DOH) Family Health Services Division (FHSD) conducts a comprehensive needs assessment every five years as part of federal Title V Maternal & Child Health (MCH) Block Grant requirements. The grant supports efforts to improve the health for mothers, children, youth, and families, including those with special health care needs.

 This assessment helps identify current and emerging community health needs, guides future actions, and ensures that FHSD’s priorities align with national MCH goals. It also supports action planning, performance measurement and tracking, and resource allocation to improve the impact and outcomes of maternal and child health programs.

For more information about the Title V grant and Hawaii’s annual report see website: https://health.hawaii.gov/fhsd/home/title-v-maternal-child-health-block-grant/

Hawai’i Title V 5-Year Block Grant

What’s New?

Since our last website update, we finished the Assessment Phase of our process and have moved into the Planning Phase.  The following is a summary of our work:

Data Collection. We’ve gathered insights from four key sources:

  • National and state health data.
  • An environmental scan of 91 local reports and plans.
  • 26 community focus groups across all counties.
  • A multilingual online survey with 915 participants.

 Evaluation. We analyzed and are synthesizing the data and information:

  • Findings were organized into 60 need topics across populations.
  • Feedback was incorporated from program staff, advisory committees, and community stakeholders.
  • The report is currently being adapted into multiple publications for community release and use.

 Title V Grant Requirements. We fulfilled the requirements of the Title V grant:

  • A 300-page report was completed and submitted.
  • Seven, five-year priority areas for Hawai‘i were selected in alignment with National MCH Priorities:
    • Improve Postpartum Visits
    • Promote Infant Safe Sleep
    • Increase Developmental Screening for Young Children
    • Assure Food Sufficiency for Infants and Young Children
    • Prevent Bullying among Adolescents
    • Improve Primary Care through Optimizing Care Coordination for Children and Youth Special Health Care Needs
    • Improve MCH Mental Health through Workforce Training and Support Services
  • Performance Measures were selected for grant reporting.
  • Initial strategies have been developed.

Coming Soon.

We will be Reporting Back to the community in 2026 about the Needs Assessment and it’s Findings. We are finalizing these documents and will update this webpage with their links:

  • Title V Comprehensive Needs Assessment Report
  • Focus Group & Community Survey Reports
  • FHSD/Title V Priority Fact Sheets

MAHALO to our many valuable partners in this important work!

LEARN MORE

 

 

QUESTIONS?

Contact Annette Mente – Planner, Family Health Services Division, Hawaii State Department of Health – at 808-733-8358 or [email protected].