Healthy Start program works to reduce South Carolina’s rising infant mortality rate despite funding uncertainty

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s infant mortality rate has increased, according to the latest report from the Department of Public Health, prompting renewed attention on programs aimed at protecting mothers and babies across the state.

One of those efforts is the federally funded Healthy Start program, which provides education, health care access, and emotional support to families in vulnerable communities.

For Columbia mother Shaquana Hamilton, the program has been extremely supportive as she’s cherishing her first holiday season with her nearly six-month-old son, Trevor. 

“I look at him every day and I’m thankful that he’s here,” Hamilton said. “He’s a happy baby, and he’s loved so much by my whole family.”

When Hamilton learned she was pregnant last November, she says she was terrified. She had experienced two prior miscarriages and lives with high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes, conditions that put her pregnancy at higher risk.

“I just prayed,” Hamilton said. “I didn’t want to go through what I went through with those first two pregnancies with Trevor.”

In February, Hamilton was referred to Healthy Start through Prisma Health’s Maternal Fetal Medicine program. Through Healthy Start, she was paired with a community health worker who provided monthly check-ins, home visits, and emotional support throughout her pregnancy.

Hamilton says the program helped her address not just her physical health, but her mental health as well.

“They were able to give me the resources of a therapist,” she said. “Going to therapy while I was pregnant helped me keep a positive and clear mind.”

Kim Alston, director of Prisma Health Midlands and Upstate Healthy Start, says that kind of hands-on support is central to the program’s mission.

“We’re able to be the eyes and the ears of the medical providers,” Alston said. “We can see what’s going on that maybe they can’t see.”

Healthy Start Midlands has been operating since 1997 and is part of a national program with 115 locations across the country. The program focuses on improving maternal and infant health outcomes, particularly in communities facing higher risks. Alson says the program severed around 600 families in the Midlands this past year.

According to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pregnant women enrolled in Healthy Start received early prenatal care at a higher rate than the national average.

“We’re trying to give them information so they can be better,” Alston said. “Once we leave, we want them to be in a better place. We work with them from pregnancy until the baby turns 18 months old.”

Despite its impact, Healthy Start’s future funding remains uncertain. Alston says the program is awaiting to see in the federal government’s fiscal year 2026 budget will include Healthy Start’s funding or not. For now, services continue under current funding levels.

“We are trying to work with less to make sure we don’t have to turn anybody away,” Alston said.

For Hamilton, the continued support brings reassurance as she focuses on keeping herself and her son healthy.

“I just love being his mom,” she said. “I love that I get to take care of him every day.”