Partner Highlight: Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies

HIPHI’sCommunity Engagement for Health Equity in COVID-19 Prevention and Mitigation Project supports and partners with community-based organizations throughout Hawai‘i. One of these organizations is Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai‘i (HMHB). 

HMHB is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving Hawaii’s maternal, child, and family health through collaborative efforts in public education, advocacy and partner development. They work to provide equitable access to quality health care, eliminate health disparities, and educate families to make healthy choices. TheCOVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing social inequities and exposed the vulnerability of many communities. In response, HMHB launched various programs to support and address the needs of their populations.

The Māna‘ai Food Distribution Program provides reliable access to food for moms, families, and other vulnerable populations. This program served many families, who had never needed to navigate and connect to social services such as WIC/SNAP. 

 HMHB also launched their 24-hour telehealth platform, Mana Mama, to provide additional access to support, across the state. The platform is available for a wide range of concerns including general medical questions for pregnant or postpartum patients, lactation support, and mental health support.

 To further expand their reach, HMHB’s Mana Mama mobile van functions as a mobile clinic that provides clinical services outside of an office or hospital setting. It removes access-to-care barriers such as transportation, time, and childcare issues. The mobile clinic is essential to fill all the gaps in services, where traditional health and social service providers may not be able to reach. HMHB is preparing to launch another mobile unit on Hawai‘i island to increase their physical presence and address the very limited access to perinatal care in rural areas. Both mobile units offer vaccines, including for COVID-19.

Since the start of their vaccination program, HMHB has administered over 4,111 COVID-19 vaccines. They are one of the few providers in the state that offer both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for all ages. To learn more about HMHB’s programs or to schedule an appointment, visit https://www.hmhb-hawaii.org.