Healthy from the Start
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Healthy Start Initiative

In 1991, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) funded 15 urban and rural sites in communities with infant mortality rates that were 1.5 - 2.5 times the national average to begin the Healthy Start Initiative. The program began with a five-year demonstration phase to identify and develop community-based systems approaches to reducing infant mortality by 50% over the five-year period and to improve the health and well-being of women, infants, children and their families.

Originally funded under the authority of Section 301 of the Public Health Services Act, Healthy Start has been authorized by Congress as part of the Children's Health Act of 2000. The Healthy Start Program is located within HRSA. It is a component of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau under the Division of Perinatal Systems and Women's Health.

Currently, there are 105 federally-funded Healthy Start projects and five main types of Healthy Start grants: Perinatal Health, Border Health, Interconceptional Care, Perinatal Depression and Family Violence.

The common principles underlying the Healthy Start program are:

Innovations in service delivery
Community commitment and involvement
Personal responsibility demonstrated by expectant parents
Integration of health and social services
Multi-agency participation
Increased access to care
Public education

Healthy Start projects address multiple issues, including:

Providing adequate prenatal care
Promoting positive prenatal health behaviors
Meeting basic health needs (nutrition, housing, psychosocial support)
Reducing barriers to access
Enabling client empowerment

(Source: Telling the Healthy Start Story: A Report on the Impact of the 22 Demonstration Projects, National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health, 1999.)

Check out Infant Mortality: Low Birthweight and Racial Disparity in Perinatal Outcomes or visit www.hrsa.gov (Maternal and Child Health Bureau) for more information about infant mortality and low birthweight.

The National Healthy Start Association Inc.
1411 K Street, NW, Suite 1350
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 296-2195 | Fax: (202) 296-2197
Contact via E-Mail

Newsletter Fall 2011
Raising the Bar as We Continue to Raise Awareness
The National Healthy Start Association and Healthy Start projects have been up to some exciting things in recent months. September was Infant Mortality Awareness Month, and 2011 marks the 20th Anniversary of the federal Healthy Start Initiative. NHSA recognized this anniversary with the creation
of Saving Our Nation’s Babies: The Impact of the Federal Healthy Start Initiative, a publication chronicling the birth of Healthy Start and NHSA that includes profiles and photographs for over 80 of the federally funded Healthy Start Projects.