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…