Becoming pregnant introduced me to a supportive program called Healthy Start and, most importantly, to an amazing friend, Lori, the Healthy Start nurse. With this program, I became a mother with knowledge to help my babies grow healthy and strong.

Healthy Start focuses on reaching at-risk pregnant women and providing access to pre-natal care, counseling, education, coaching, and encouragement. Research has repeatedly shown that these at-risk pregnancies often result in premature births, low birth weight infants, and numerous complications for both the mother and newborn. Healthy Start teaches “moms-to-be” about the importance of good nutrition, the need to eliminate cigarette and alcohol consumption, and other key lifestyle changes that dramatically improve the odds of a healthy infant at birth. The costs of health care alone for a significantly premature infant can exceed $1 million in the first few months of life. Low birth weight babies have substantially greater health problems as well as a greater risk of delayed learning. Reducing these and other consequences by changing the behaviors of the mother during their pregnancies can result in substantial cost savings, making Healthy Start a program that may, in fact, pay for itself.

Once a child is born, Healthy Start promotes breastfeeding as research has shown that it can significantly benefit both infant and mother. Breastfeeding provides nutritional advantages as well as bonding time for mother and child. Here again, the improved outcomes are physical as well and emotional for both mother and her infant.

The total annual budget for the Healthy Start program is just over $100 million, an amount about equal to what the federal government spends every 20 minutes of every hour of every day. The return on this investment in Healthy Start is nothing short of extraordinary. For example, the state of Maryland estimates it saves at least $7 million annually thanks to the results of Healthy Start.

There are nearly 100 Healthy Start program operating across the U.S., most serving lower income and/or minority populations including six that specifically address the needs of Native American and Native Hawaiian communities. These communities face some of the greatest challenges due to high levels of unemployment and poverty as well as geographic dispersion. Infant mortality rates among Native American and Native Hawaiian communities are two to three times higher than for White Americans.

Rick Haverkate, Director of Public Health for the Michigan Inter-Tribal Council, a consortium of Native American tribes in Michigan, said, “Healthy Start's community-based maternal and child health care model is succeeding where other programs have failed with Native populations. Healthy Start is uniquely positioned to address racial and ethnic disparities experienced by Native people, to support the development of innovative, holistic and culturally appropriate strategies to address risky behaviors, and to put Native people at the helm of educating the public – all of this from the grass-roots, community level. In addition, Healthy Start programs seek to combat racism, discrimination, and unequal treatment, and as such, are agents of social justice within health care arenas.”

Mary Beth Badura, Director of the HRSA Maternal and Child Health Bureau, notes 'Healthy Start is a truly effective program that brings resources directly to the people who need them. The program reaches over 80,000 pregnant women each year in 37 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Many of the women we serve are young, alone, and scared. Their Healthy Start contact is a lifeline during a time of need. The ability of the program to reach so many at-risk pregnant women significantly improves the chances that these women can have healthy babies that get a great start on growing up healthy, physically, mentally, and emotionally. That good start gives these youngest Americans a much better chance to be lead successful and productive lives.”

Traci Karaja is a participant in Healthy Start who lives in the Hannahville Indian Community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. “Becoming pregnant introduced me to a supportive program called Healthy Start and, most importantly, to an amazing friend, Lori, the Healthy Start nurse. With this program, I became a mother with knowledge to help my babies grow healthy and strong.”