Skip to main content


U.S. flag
      An official website of the United States government
              Here’s how you know
        Here’s how you knowDot gov**Official websites use .gov**
                 A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
                  HTTPS**Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                 A **lock** (A locked padlock) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. 
  Menu Close
          HHS Search block
    Search
        








  
  
    

  
      

                                      About HHS
    
                        
                              
      
      
      Programs & Services
    
                        
                              
      
      
      Grants & Contracts
    
                        
                              
      
      
      Laws & Regulations Breadcrumb
    Home
                              About
                              News
                              HHS Awards More Than $3.6 Million to Bolster Support, Training on Substance Use Disorder During Pregnancy and Postpartum
 Navigate to:
  News
    
                                    
                                            
            
      
      
      
      Blog
    
                                    
                                            
            
      
      
      
      HHS Live
    
                                    
                                            
            
      
      
      
      Podcasts
    
                                    
                                            
            
      
      
      
      Media Guidelines for HHS EmployeesText resize icon

                    




**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 16, 2022**

        **Contact: 
                                    ASH Media**
          202-205-0143ashmedia@hhs.gov

          HHS Awards More Than $3.6 Million to Bolster Support, Training on Substance Use Disorder During Pregnancy and Postpartum
    
    

      Today the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office on Women’s Health (OWH) announced it awarded more than $3.6 million in competitive grants to seven organizations working to bolster support for individuals experiencing substance use disorder (SUD) during pregnancy and postpartum. Five of the recipients also will use the funds to address the intersection of SUD and intimate partner violence (IPV). This work builds on the HHS overdose prevention strategy and will advance the President’s unity agenda and the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis released earlier this year to improve maternal health and advance health equity.

“We at HHS are affirming our commitment to helping people obtain long term recovery,” said ADM Rachel L. Levine, M.D., Assistant Secretary for Health. “These grants promote and support evidence-based treatment and recovery practices – a key pillar of National Recovery Month – and help to build the full continuum of support we need to fully and finally integrate behavioral health into health care.”

More than 20 million Americans are in recovery or have recovered from substance use disorder, a condition characterized by the recurrent use of alcohol and/or drugs causing clinically significant impairment, including health problems, disability, and difficulty meeting major responsibilities at work, school, or home (SAMHSA, 2022). Of note, opioid use disorder (OUD) among U.S. women delivering at a hospital quadrupled between 1999 and 2014, according to a multi-state CDC analysis issued in 2018, and drug-overdose deaths made up nearly 10% of all pregnancy-associated mortality in 2016 in the US (Bryan, 2020). And more recent research has shown that overdose death rates are higher for recently pregnant women than for the total female population of childbearing age (Howard, 2021)

In addition, the association between IPV and SUD is well established, yet health care provider training to identify, treat, and prevent their co-occurrence in pregnant and postpartum women is lacking. IPV is most common among women of reproductive age and, as cited by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, approximately 324,000 pregnant women are abused each year in the United States.

The United States' maternal mortality rate is the highest of any developed nation in the world and more than double the rate of peer countries. To address the maternal mortality crisis and improve health outcomes among those struggling with SUD use disorder, the following organizations received grant awards across two grant programs:

**The *Reducing Maternal Deaths Due to Substance Use Disorder***grant program aims to strengthen perinatal and postnatal support structures for patients with SUD and reduce deaths during the perinatal and postpartum periods. Recipients are expected to:

Partner with hospital and community-based organizations to implement evidence-based interventions that strengthen perinatal and postnatal support structures for patients with SUDs;
	Create a technologically innovative education and outreach product to provide support accessible to perinatal and postpartum patients with SUDs at home, and on the go, to reduce triggers, decrease stress, and increase feelings of support, thereby lowering the chance of a return to drug use or overdose. This product should include education on the biological, emotional, and psychosocial milestones and struggles at each stage during pregnancy and the first 12 months following birth; and
	Improve health outcomes and reducing deaths among perinatal and postpartum patients associated with SUD.Recipient
			State
			Award AmountCentral Jersey Behavioral Health Associates, Inc.
			New Jersey
			$300,000City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services
			Pennsylvania
			$300,000**The *Violence Against Women and Substance Use Prevention Initiative*** will train SUD providers in IPV and address the intersection of IPV and SUD during the pregnancy and postpartum period. This initiative will involve a collaboration between OWH and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Family Violence Prevention and Services Program. Recipients are expected to develop a statewide pilot project that includes partnerships with domestic and sexual violence organizations at the state and local level, and that will:

Incentivize SUD providers treating pregnant and postpartum women to be trained on identifying and addressing IPV;
	Train SUD treatment providers to address IPV with patients and train IPV staff on SUD;
	Identify, utilize, and disseminate best practices;
	Integrate IPV and SUD protocols into medical practice;
	Integrate perinatal and postpartum programs into existing substance use programs; and
	Implement a process and outcomes evaluation to demonstrate whether there was an improvement in IPV-SUD health outcomes in the pregnant and postpartum period.Recipient
			State
			Award AmountDomestic Violence Action Center
			Hawaii
			$500,000Hektoen Institute for Medical Research
			Illinois
			$675,000Texas A&M Health Science Center
			Texas
			$549,900University of Mississippi Medical Center
			Mississippi
			$674,578Virginia Commonwealth University
			Virginia
			$651,924**About the HHS Office on Women’s Health:**Established in 1991, the Office on Women’s Health (OWH) works to improve the health of women and girls in the U.S. through policy, education, and innovative programs. OWH also coordinates women’s health efforts across HHS, working collaboratively with federal agencies and external partners to address important women’s health topics. OWH is part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. To learn more about OWH visit womenshealth.gov.
  

    ###
    Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other news materials are available at https://www.hhs.gov/news.Like HHS on Facebook, follow HHS on Twitter @HHSgov, and sign up for HHS Email Updates.Last revised: September 16, 2022

  
  
  







  Sign Up for Email Updates

Receive the latest updates from the Secretary, Blogs, and News Releases

Sign Up







  Subscribe to RSS
    

      Receive latest updates







  Related News Releases
    

      Biden-Harris Administration Announces Critical More Than $1.5 Billion State and Tribal Opioid Response Funding Opportunities
  

Biden-Harris Administration Calls on Housing Community to Help Expand Access to Life-Saving Opioid Overdose Reversal Medications Like Naloxone
  

The Biden-Harris Administration Takes Critical Action to Make Naloxone More Accessible and Prevent Fatal Overdoses from Opioids Like Fentanyl

                    
  


Media Inquiries

For general media inquiries, please contact media@hhs.gov.







  Content created by Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) Content last reviewed September 16, 2022 Back to top
    Contact HHS
    
                        
                                            
      
      
      Careers
    
                        
                                            
      
      
      HHS FAQs
    
                        
                                            
      
      
      Nondiscrimination NoticeHHS Archive
    
                        
                                            
      
      
      Accessibility Statement
    
                        
                                            
      
      
      Privacy Policy
    
                        
                                            
      
      
      Viewers & PlayersBudget/Performance
    
                        
                                            
      
      
      Inspector General
    
                        
                                            
      
      
      Web Site Disclaimers
    
                        
                                            
      
      
      EEO/No Fear ActFOIA
    
                        
                                            
      
      
      The White House
    
                        
                                            
      
      
      USA.gov
    
                        
                                            
      
      
      Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
        Sign Up for Email Updates

Receive the latest updates from the Secretary, Blogs, and News Releases.

Sign Up
  HHS Headquarters
          200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
                  Washington, D.C. 20201
                  Toll Free Call Center: 1-877-696-6775​ Disclaimer Policy: Links with this icon () mean that you are leaving the HHS website. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cannot guarantee the accuracy of a non-federal website.
                  Linking to a non-federal website does not mean that HHS or its employees endorse the sponsors, information, or products presented on the website. HHS links outside of itself to provide you with further information.
                  You will be bound by the destination website's privacy policy and/or terms of service when you follow the link.
                  HHS is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on private websites. For more information on HHS's web notification policies, see Website Disclaimers.
 Continue
                  Go back