Avera has received a federal grant to improve maternal and infant health.
The $5.4 million grant is funding an initiative to reduce infant mortality across the region. The initiative is called Avera Bridging Inequities Regionally Through Healthy Start, or Avera BIRTHS.
Avera said the program is targeting 52 South Dakota counties in need of more maternal health care.
The program also funds maternity care from pregnancy to 18 months postpartum.
"Numerous South Dakota counties are 'maternity deserts' where access to maternity health care services is limited or absent, either through lack of services or barriers to a woman's ability to access that care within counties," program director Lacey McCormack.
The grant lasts over a five-year period.
