H.R. No. 777
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, The Texas Healthy Start Alliance is part of a broad
federally funded effort working to promote healthy lifestyles for
women of childbearing age in an effort to reduce the rate of infant
mortality, low birth weight, and racial, ethnic, and
border-specific disparities in perinatal outcomes; and
WHEREAS, While most women in the United States who become
pregnant have a safe pregnancy and deliver a healthy infant, major
and persistent racial and ethnic disparities exist in the
proportion of pregnancy-related maternal death, preterm birth, and
infant mortality; the national Healthy Start program was initiated
in 1991 to address these issues, and since then the program has
grown to include 97 grantees across the country, including those in
Brownsville, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Laredo, and San Antonio;
and
WHEREAS, Healthy Start provides intensive services tailored
to the needs of high-risk pregnant women, infants, and mothers,
beginning with direct outreach by community health workers to
ensure that the mothers and infants have ongoing sources of primary
and preventive health care and that their basic needs are met; the
program recently expanded its target population to include women
and infants from entry into prenatal care through two years
postpartum; and
WHEREAS, Each Healthy Start project depends on a consortium
of neighborhood residents, perinatal care clients, medical and
social service providers, and community leaders who work to deal
with system barriers in their area; in addition, Healthy Start is
linked with such state programs as Title V, MCH Block Grant,
Medicaid, and the State Child Health Insurance Program; and
WHEREAS, From 2002 to 2005, 13 Healthy Start projects
reported no infant deaths among program participants; three of
these projects, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Brownsville, were
affiliated with the Texas Healthy Start Alliance; and
WHEREAS, Although infant mortality, low birth weight, and
access to prenatal care remain major public health issues in this
country, Healthy Start is helping to reduce the gap in racial,
ethnic, and border-specific disparities, and the Texas Healthy
Start Alliance, in particular, is providing vital leadership in
behalf of high-risk pregnant women, infants, and mothers in the
Lone Star State; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 81st Texas
Legislature hereby honor the Texas Healthy Start Alliance for its
commitment to addressing disparities in perinatal outcomes in
communities around the state; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for the Texas Healthy Start Alliance as an expression of
high regard by the Texas House of Representatives.
Flores
______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 777 was adopted by the House on March
12, 2009, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House