Welcome
to the
National Healthy Start Association
National Healthy Start Association's |
The National Healthy Start Association (National Healthy Start Association), whose members include almost 100 federally funded Healthy Start projects in the United States, promotes community-based maternal and child health programs, particularly those that focus on the reduction of infant mortality, low birthweight and racial disparities in perinatal outcomes.
Infant mortality refers to the death of a baby before its first birthday. The United States ranks 23rd among industrialized nations in the world in infant mortality.
Babies who are low birthweight weigh 2500 grams (5.5 pounds) or less at birth. Very low birthweight babies weigh 1500 grams (3.3 pounds) or less. The medical andsocial costs for low birthweight and very low birthweight babies are significant. Low birthweight is a major predictor of infant mortality.
Racial disparities occur both in health status and health care throughout the country. The goal of Healthy Start is to reduce these disparities, especially among pregnant and postpartum women and their infants.
The National Healthy Start Association believes that the Healthy Start program offers the best models for the reduction of infant mortality, low birthweight and racial disparities in perinatal outcomes. This model emphasizes both the importance of community-based approaches to solving these problems, and the need to develop comprehensive, holistic interventions that include health, social and economic services.
Each Healthy Start project is mandated to develop a local consortium composed of neighborhood residents, medical providers, social service agencies, faith-based representatives and the business community. This consortium guides and oversees the design and implementation of the local Healthy Start project.
The Association has a mandate to ensure that these key features of the Healthy Start model are strengthened and promoted among all Healthy Start projects and is available to provide technical assistance, when requested.
Visit our other pages for more information!
Consumer Candice McGeshick and her baby meet with Christine Fink, Healthy Start Nurse.
Peggy Sanchez-Mills, CEO National Healthy Start Association presents Dr. Peter van Dyck, Associate Administrator for HRSA's Maternal and Child Health Bureau with a National Infant Mortality Awareness Month baseball cap.
Louisville HS team (left to right): Nazenin Assef, Project Administrator; Saojini Kanotra, Project Evaluator; and Johannie Escarne, HRSA HS Project Officer.
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HRSA Administrator Betty Duke delivered the opening plenary address August 6 at the 2007 Healthy Start Grantee Meeting in Arlington, VA, sharing success stories of individual Healthy Start projects and reiterating the agency’s commitment to improving birth outcomes in racial and ethnic minority communities. All 99 of HRSA’s Healthy Start grantees attended the conference, titled “Celebrating Healthy Women, Healthy Families, Healthy Communities.” Communities served by Healthy Start programs have large minority populations with high rates of infant mortality, unemployment, poverty and crime. The locally based programs identify and develop community-based approaches to reduce infant mortality rates and improve the health and wellbeing of women, infants, children and their families. While each project uses local input to shape outreach and treatment strategies, all of the projects share the same “core” program goals: to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in perinatal health, improve local health care systems, and increase consumers’ voices in health care decisions. “When you think about it, pregnancy really offers a clinician nine months of what I call ‘teaching’ moments,” Duke told the audience. “And we know that when Healthy Start projects teach mothers about good health habits and give them strong prevention messages, you are, in fact, teaching the entire family. The health habits learned during pregnancy will stay with a woman and her family for their entire lives.” Rose Stith Singleton, program manager at the Richmond, VA Healthy Start Initiative, called this year’s meeting “the best ever.” The break-out sessions and plenary speakers were “exceptional!” she said. “And the research data were presented at a level where anyone could understand. I actually looked forward to staying until the very last gavel sounded.” “I am a seasoned project director,” she said, “but I still look forward to attending the annual grantee meeting. Each year I learn something new that will benefit our project.” Since HRSA launched Healthy Start in 1991 with 15 grantees, the program has grown to include 99 communities in 37 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. |
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To Learn More: ...about HRSA's Healthy Start Program, go to http://mchb.hrsa.gov/about/dhsps.htm. |
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Did You Know.... The U.S.-Mexico border is an area of special interest and focus for HRSA. The border region is home to six Healthy Start border projects: Luna County Healthy Start and La Clinica de Familia in New Mexico; Valley Primary Care Network Healthy Start and Baptist Children's Home Ministries in Texas; and two new projects - Mariposa Community Health Center in Nogales, AZ, and Project Concern International in San Diego. Two of these Healthy Start border projects - La Clinica de Familia in Las Cruces and Valley Primary Network in Brownsville - reported no infant deaths among program participants for the past four years. |
National
Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health
http://www.ncemch.org
Health
Resources and Services Administration
http://www.hrsa.gov
(click "Overview & Programs" and then the MCHB link)
The
Maternal and Child Health Neighborhood
http://mchneighborhood.ichp.edu
The MCH Library: a virtual guide to maternal
and child health information. It offers a wide variety of electronic
resources, including the MCH Alert, knowledge paths, publications, databases,
bibliographies, and other materials developed for health professionals,
policymakers, and families.
http://mchlibrary.info
Special needs family friendly fun – enhancing the quality
fun of family life with special needs. More information on linking to
our website can be found at:
http://www.family-friendly-fun.com/familytradelinks.htm
Bright
Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents
was developed to provide comprehensive health supervision guidelines,
including recommendations on immunizations, routine health screenings,
and anticipatory guidance.
http://www.brightfutures.aap.org
Click: Information for Healthy Start Projects and then scroll down for a list of potential funding opportunities. Bookmark our site and visit regularly, as this page is updated on a frequent, but irregular basis.
Click: Information for Healthy Start Projects for upcoming conference schedules.
New & Improved!
The Healthy Start Directory now includes links to Healthy Start projects' web sites.
Click here to view the Healthy Start Directory!
