Federal Healthy Start Initiative: A National Network for Effective Home Visitation and Family Support Services, a new white paper from the National Healthy Start Association, provides a history of the federal Healthy Start initiative, an overview of its network and core services, discusses about its effectiveness in building high-quality, comprehensive early childhood systems, and describes its role in health reform.
The Healthy Start Initiative was established by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA; a part of the Dept. of Health and Human Services) in 1991 to identify and develop community-based approaches to reducing infant mortality and to improve the health and well-being of women, infants, children, and families.
The paper demonstrates that the success of federal Healthy Start as an effective delivery system is rooted in its abilities to both address community needs specific to maternal and child health and to enhance access to a continuum of care and social supports for vulnerable populations including: comprehensive preventive services, women’s health, and care coordination of chronic diseases in clinic or other group settings and in participant homes.
