Promoting perinatal health is one of the missions of Public Health France. The campaign on the first 1000 days, launched in 2021 and rebroadcast in October 2022, invites us to take an interest in the health issues of this period of life. Other actions are carried out by the Agency, and in particular those allowing parents and future parents to better understand the preventive action of the Maternal and Child Protection services (PMI) for the benefit of their health and the development of their children.
Perinatal health: the challenges of the first 1000 days and the contribution of PMI
The promotion of perinatal health involves accompanying, supporting and informing families in a global approach to pregnancy and the start of parenthood. Public Health France’s action focuses on knowledge, development, support and/or reinforcement of protective factors, as well as the reduction of risk factors.
Through several studies, we now know that a start in life, where protective factors are developed, will have benefits throughout life, on the individual’s ability to manage his emotions, to explore the world, to maintain and create social relations. PMI professionals seek to maximize protective factors for all babies they encounter.
This is why Public Health France is taking action to:
- Improve information for parents and future parents, and even the general public, about PMI.
- Develop and support interventions based on home visits organized by PMI, key to reducing social and territorial health inequalities. These interventions aim to strengthen and enhance the parents’ ability to build reassuring emotional ties with their child and thus promote their healthy development.
The contribution of PMI in the promotion of perinatal health
The notion of early prevention, both for the child and for the mother, has been at the heart of the action of PMI since their creation in 1945. A key player in supporting and protecting mothers, children, and more broadly parents and future parents, PMI play an essential role in fostering the mother-child bond and welcoming the baby into the family.
Through its actions, Public Health France strives to highlight what PMI can bring to promoting the health of the entire population, through their early action in the perinatal period: proximal access, free, and the presence of health and early childhood professionals listening to parents and future parents.
The participation of Public Health France in a documentary on maternity, shot in PMI
As part of its communication system around the first 1000 days, Public Health France supported, by providing its expertise, the production of the documentary “ Maternity: the big leap which will be broadcast this Wednesday, November 23 at 10:50 p.m. on the TEVA channel (then in streaming on 6play TEVA). Aiming to show the upheaval of entering maternity, thanks to 4 mothers followed for a year, this 66-minute film highlights the support that PMI can provide during this period. The Sartrouville PMI center welcomes participating mothers throughout the film, during their individual meetings with PMI professionals but also during “ Talks », discussion group bringing them together regularly.
« The PMI offer a reassuring framework for the parents and make it possible to develop the protective factors which have benefits on the health of the child and the mother. This documentary Maternity: the big leap contributes to bringing more visibility to the general public of what PMIs bring to society, particularly in terms of prevention. “says Thierry Cardoso, head of the Perinatal and early childhood unit at Public Health France.
In videos: “Pros at your service”
During the shooting of the documentary, 7 videos of 2 minutes were produced to enrich the site 1000-premiers-jours.fr. titled ” Professionals at your service », these videos are intended for parents and future parents; they highlight the support that can be found in PMI, while showing the upheaval of becoming a parent.
More information available on the site the first 1000 days with accessible and educational articles, to give future and young parents keys for their health and the development of their child.
Support for PMIs to promote the reduction of social and territorial health inequalities
PMI professionals, a universal service for everyone, can identify different factors of social vulnerability, isolation or possible signs of postpartum depression, etc., and thus offer types of support tailored to the needs of each family. . Thus, home visits are set up by PMI services for families who need the most support.
In this proportionate and graduated approach, Public Health France has developed and tested the PANJO intervention. This is a particular type of home visit, offered by the PMI to future parents living in a psychosocial context making it more difficult to create secure bonds of attachment with the baby. These interventions are carried out only by PMI professionals benefiting from a specific support system for their practice: training, intervention tools and supervision. This initiative contributes to reducing the social inequalities that appear and widen from the earliest stages of life.
Public Health France will host, this Thursday, November 24, the National PANJO 3 Seminar which will bring together, for a sharing of experience, the actors of the regions and departments participating in the PANJO 3 deployment test launched in 2020. This third part of the project aims objective of finding partnership arrangements between the departments, the Regional Health Agencies and Public Health France allowing the large-scale and sustainable deployment of a high-quality PANJO intervention.
The site the first 1000 days in numbers
- More than 3 million visits
- An average time spent on the site of more than 5 minutes, Content related to baby’s food, sleep and crying are particularly visited
- 32 videos, to get the main information in less than 2 minutes
- The most consulted section, “In practice”, offers advice spread over 180 everyday objects