This fresh direction is based on a six-year evaluation of the first 15 Healthy Start projects and recommendations of this Advisory Committee. These first Healthy Start communities have given us valuable insight into what works and what doesn t. Armed with this knowledge, we can help Healthy Start communities build stronger and more stable programs with statewide linkages that can help determine needs, set realistic goals, measure outcomes and continuously refine strategies. To extend the message of Healthy Start, we have partnered with Lifetime television and the Ad Council to produce an hour-long documentary stressing the importance of prenatal care. Born, the film follows the pregnancies of three women and shows viewers how prenatal care made a difference in their babies health. This documentary aired nationwide last Friday on Lifetime, a top-rated cable television network for women.
Plans call for it to be aired again in the future and videotapes are available.
Another program is our Healthy Child Care America effort that works to strengthen partnerships between child care and health care systems to protect the health of infants and young children in child care settings. We re thrilled to see the states being so creative with their outreach efforts and so committed to enrolling millions of eligible children in high quality systems of care. This campaign tells parents that babies should sleep on their backs to lower their risk of death from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Studies show that the incidence of U.S. infants sleeping on their stomach has decreased from 70 percent in 1994, when the campaign began, to 21 percent in 1997. During that same time, the death rate from SIDS dropped 43 percent.