Over half of adult Georgians have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience — such as physical and emotional abuse, or witnessing violence between parents. And 17% of those adults experienced four or more, according to a 2016 report from the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Resilient Georgia, a nonprofit coalition of 20 foundations formed shortly after that report was released, aims to tackle the issue.
Many coalition members work with children directly to lower the rate and impact of child trauma. Others focus on mothers, as unhealthy pregnancies and maternal mortality are often connected to child trauma, said Jacob Warren, joint executive director of South Georgia Healthy Start. His organization works to eliminate disparities in maternal and infant mortality in rural counties in southeast Georgia.
He and others recently explained why private, public and academic partnerships can help in the fight.
This is part of a series of briefs covering the 2019 State of the Public’s Health conference at the University of Georgia. Michael Nelson is a graduate student in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Please click here to read the full post.