Financial Support Improves Newborn Survival Rates

Newborn survival rates have risen in Flint, Michigan, after the launch of the Rx Kids program, which provides unconditional cash assistance to expectant mothers and their infants.

Researchers analyzed neonatal mortality data from 2021‑2024 and 2025, finding that the city’s neonatal death rate fell from 10.0 per 1,000 live births to 5.0 per 1,000, and early‑neonatal mortality (first week) dropped from 8.0 to 2.0 per 1,000 live births. Statewide rates remained unchanged.

“As a pediatrician, there is no outcome more important than babies surviving,” says Mona Hanna, a pediatrician at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and founder of Rx Kids. “These early findings suggest that something as simple as providing families with financial support during pregnancy and infancy may help save babies’ lives.”

Financial strain often increases around the time of birth, with reduced income and rising expenses creating economic precarity that can harm both mothers and infants. For example, housing instability and homelessness are linked to preterm birth and low birth weight.

Rx Kids, supported by public and private funding, began in January 2024 in Flint — a community with high child‑poverty rates and the ongoing legacy of lead‑contaminated water. The program enrolls nearly all residents who are at least 16 weeks pregnant or have a newborn up to six months old, offering $1,500 once during pregnancy and $500 each month for the first year of the child’s life. Families typically use the funds for diapers, transportation, housing, and safe sleeping arrangements.

“Every day, we hear from moms who tell us, ‘I can breathe’ or ‘A weight has been lifted off my shoulders.’ They tell us they feel less stressed, more hopeful, more supported and more loved,” Hanna says.

The program’s impact includes greater access to prenatal care, lower rates of preterm birth and low‑weight infants, and fewer neonatal intensive‑care admissions. Rx Kids has since expanded to dozens of communities across Michigan and Ohio.