Nurse Home-Visitation Program for Low-Income Women Attracting Bipartisan Support

National Partnership for Women & Families
April 17, 2009

Supporters of President Obama's proposal for a nurse home-visitation program for low-income women who are pregnant or have recently given birth are "optimistic" that bipartisan support for the plan in Congress will help ensure that it receives funding this year, CQ HealthBeat reports. The proposed initiative was inspired by the Colorado-based Nurse-Family Partnership, a similar program for low-income women that research shows has led to improved prenatal health, fewer subsequent pregnancies and a decrease in childhood injuries, according to David Olds, the founder of the program and a professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center...

The Nurse Family Partnership Program has been covered in two Future Choices TV programs:
• "Partnering for Mother Power" (May 2008) and
• "Take Control: NYC Takes on Reproductive Health" (February 2009).

A Senate aide said the home-visitation program is "well on the path to being implemented." In March, a bipartisan group of House members -- including Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) -- sent a letter to Obama urging him to support home visitation programs like the Nurse-Family Partnership, which various studies have shown to be effective. The letter said, "We share your belief that nurse home visitation based on rigorous scientific evidence is a cost-effective way to improve the health and well-being of first-time parents and their children." A similar letter is circulating among a bipartisan group of senators, CQ HealthBeat reports (Gensheimer, CQ HealthBeat, 4/14). |MORE

This page last updated April 19, 2009 16:22 .