Office of Minority Health

The Preconception Peer Educators (PPE) Program was developed to raise awareness among college students about the disproportionately high infant mortality rates among racial and ethnic minorities. The PPE Program applies a peer education curriculum to equip college students with targeted health messages they can spread throughout their campuses and communities. Trained PPEs champion these health messages in an effort to reduce infant mortality rates among all people, specifically those in at-risk populations.

As part of its efforts to end health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities, in 2007 the Office of Minority Health launched A Healthy Baby Begins with You—a national campaign to raise awareness about infant mortality within the African American community. While improvements have occurred in recent years, this disparity still exists.

Currently, the PPE program works with the college age population to enlist college students as peer educators on campuses and throughout the community at large to disseminate essential preconception health messages that may seem too foreign for a population that may not be actively seeking to start a family. Because over fifty percent of all pregnancies are unplanned, it is imperative to provide all men and women, especially sexually active men and women, with information to make timely, informed decisions about their reproductive futures.

Preconception Peer Educators in collaboration with OMH, foster health disparities reduction by:

• Extending and continuing far-reaching infant mortality awareness campaigns promoting preconception and inter-conception health messages.
• Developing activities and messages targeted to at risk populations
• Reaching the college-age (African American) population with targeted health messages, materials, activities and exercises emphasizing preconception health and healthcare.
• Training college students to serve as peer educators and healthy behavior advocates.