U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) recently secured a $20 million increase in a National Institute of Health (NIH) program designed to cut down on maternal deaths and improve health care for women before, during and after pregnancy.
After the money increase, the NIH’s Implementing a Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) Initiative will be funded at a total of $73.4 million in the 2025 fiscal year. Britt and others secured its passage through the Senate Committee on Appropriations. It now awaits a full Senate vote.
“Alabama has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation. This disproportionately affects black women,” Britt said. “In 2024, it should not be like this. I was proud to advance a $20M increase that I secured for the NIH IMPROVE Initiative for Fiscal Year 2025. These funds would help support critical research on reducing maternal mortality and improving maternal care. I’ll continue to make this a top priority. Senator Laphonza Butler and I have introduced the NIH IMPROVE Act, which would ensure consistent funding for this important program, and we are working to enact this commonsense, bipartisan legislation into law.”
Last year, Britt joined U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) in introducing the NIH IMPROVE Act. Their bipartisan legislation would provide consistent support and resources for the NIH Improve Initiative to conduct important research into the causes of America’s maternal mortality crisis and improve health care and outcomes for women pre- and post-natally.
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