Healthy Start for You and Your Baby

Healthy Start works to reduce infant mortality rates (the rate at which babies die before their first birthday). The†infant mortality rates for African Americans in west Louisville neighborhoods (West of 9th St.) are more than double the†rate of the Louisville Metro area (7.1) as a whole, and more than triple the rate for Caucasians, in Metro Louisville. The goals of the Healthy Start program include helping moms in these zip codes have healthy pregnancies,†deliver healthy and full-term babies.†Important determinants of racial differences in infant mortality are low birth†weight (less than 5.5 pounds) and very low birth weight (less than 3.3 pounds). The Healthy Start initiative in Louisville is one of only a few across†the country that had no infant deaths among participants from 2002†to 2005.