An ongoing program in Baltimore City to improve birth outcomes has received two grants totaling $2.2 million to pay for home visits and weight loss programs for pregnant and new mothers.

The B’more for Healthy Babies campaign will get $1.5 million over five years from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Women’s Health for one program that helps women lose weight using the Weight Watchers model.

The program began as a pilot in the Upton/Druid Heights neighborhood in the past year. The grant money will expand the program to 1,400 obese women of childbearing age. These women face risks during pregnancy and delivery.

Another federal grant of $702,000 will go through the state of Maryland to a home-visiting program. Nurses and paraprofessionals will provide pregnant women and new mothers with physical and mental health assessments and connect the women to services they may need.

“This funding will allow us and our partners to do a better job of serving low-income women and families, which is critically important to our community’s overall health,” said Kevin Keegan, chief executive of the Family League of Baltimore City, Inc. in a statement. The group is administering the two grants for the B’more for Healthy Babies campaign and co-directs B'more for Healthy Babies with the Baltimore City Health Department.

The B’more for Healthy Babies campaign was launched in 2009 in response to an infant mortality rate that was among the worst in the nation. That year, 120 infants died before their first birthday and more were pre-term and underweight.

Baltimore Sun file photo of family participating in the weight loss program/Barbara Haddock Taylor