A Healthy Start in Life: Reducing Infant Mortality Through Community-Level Collaborations

In 1991, the federal government launched the Healthy Start program, in response to high infant mortality rates and large racial disparities in birth outcomes. The program's ambitious goal was to reduce the number of babies who die in their first year by 50 percent in a five-year period.

Healthy Start took a community-based approach to the problem. Community members joined together in collaborative efforts to provide comprehensive health and social services to pregnant and postpartum women. Initially established as a demonstration, Healthy Start now funds 96 projects in 37 states.

Mathematica worked with Abt Associates to conduct a national evaluation of the Healthy Start program. We also evaluated the demonstration. Click here for the final report on lessons learned. Other reports review infant mortality and birth outcomes, program implementation, and Healthy Start in the Northern Plains Indian communities, which built their approach around Indian culture.

The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Health Resource and Services Administration.

For ordering information, please contact Jackie Allen.

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