U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stopped at EveryStep in Des Moines to lay out a trio of maternal-health moves, including a reported $500 million push to expand home-visit programs for new mothers. The visit landed in a state where more than half of counties have no obstetric facility at all, and where birthing units have been shutting down for two decades.
According to KCCI, Kennedy announced $500 million to boost home-visit programs during the Iowa stop focused on maternal health. As KCRG reported, Kennedy addressed maternal health needs in the state and announced three maternal-health-related actions during the appearance.
Kennedy also pointed to Operation Stork Speed, the FDA program that checks baby formula safety, saying testing under the initiative found contaminants were either undetected or present at extremely low levels, per his own account relayed in the KCRG report. The secretary used the Iowa stop to tie that formula-safety message to a broader push on infant nutrition standards that the FDA unveiled the same day.
FDA Moves on Formula Standards for First Time in Decades
The Trump administration released a plan Thursday to update requirements for certain nutrients in infant formula, according to The Washington Post. The newspaper noted that Kennedy's Operation Stork Speed included the first review of infant formula ingredients and nutrition in nearly 30 years. The FDA last reviewed baby formula nutrient standards three decades ago, and Kennedy has proposed updating those federal standards for nutrient levels.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed new nutrient limits and labeling rules for the formula on Thursday, per WTVB and Reuters. If finalized, the rule would amend limits for four required nutrients — iodine, vitamin A, vitamin D and manganese — and establish a maximum level for manganese for the first time. The same outlet reported the agency estimated the changes would cost formula manufacturers between $8.4 million and $31.7 million a year, with a primary estimate of $17.6 million.
Iowa's Maternity Deserts Set the Backdrop
The Des Moines stop came against a backdrop of strained maternity access across Iowa. The American Medical Association reports that 57% of counties in the state do not have an obstetric facility, and that more than 40 birthing-unit closures have occurred across Iowa over the past 20-plus years. The remaining 54 birthing centers in the state have absorbed more patients, often without sufficient resources and staff, according to the organization.
Iowa also has fewer ob-gyns per capita than the rest of the country. The state has 3.3 ob-gyns per 10,000 women of reproductive age, compared with 4.5 for the same population nationwide, the AMA found. Fourteen percent of Iowa women do not have a hospital where they can give birth within 30 minutes of home, versus 9.7% nationally, the same report shows.
Training Pipelines and Quality Efforts Already Underway
Iowa has built several programs aimed at shoring up that gap. University of Iowa Health Care runs a rural-track ob-gyn residency program for two residents each year, giving them hands-on experience in smaller communities, the AMA notes. The university also offers a one-year family medicine obstetrics fellowship after three years of family medicine training, alongside a two-year midwifery training program meant to grow the ranks of certified nurse midwives.
The Iowa Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, launched about five years ago, works to improve care at birthing facilities statewide, per the AMA. Separately, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services has highlighted research finding that Listening Visits delivered by home visitors were associated with statistically and clinically significant reductions in depression and improved life satisfaction among postpartum women.
