HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) today announced nearly $3 million in new funding to 45 states, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands to strengthen collaborative efforts to improve oral health services for children and to increase their access to those services.
 
“Inadequate access to dental care for children of families living in poverty is a nationwide problem,” said HRSA Administrator Elizabeth M. Duke.   “Despite great advances in prevention, dental decay remains the most prevalent childhood disease and continues to take a heavy toll on children’s health and well-being.   This new HRSA grant program is part of a national plan to focus on oral health disparities confronting children and ways to remedy them.”
 
The State Oral Health Collaborative Systems Grant Program will bolster state oral health programs whose patients are women and children eligible for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.  Funds will support broad-based efforts to improve overall dental coverage by stimulating planning and public/private partnerships and by integrating community support systems.  Funds also will be used to treat and prevent early childhood decay through dental sealant and other prevention programs.
 
Currently, most state dental programs for children are part of the state’s maternal and child health program and are supported through Title V block grants, administered by HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau.  Block grants support ongoing leadership to states to address oral health problems in the long term.
 
A table of oral health collaborative systems grantees follows:
 

State Oral Health Collaborative Systems Grant Program, FY 2003
Organization	City	State	Amount
Alabama Department of Public Health	Montgomery	Ala.	$49,957
Alaska Dept. of Health & Social Services	Juneau	Alaska	$50,000
Arizona Department of Health Services	Phoenix	Ariz.	$100,000
Arkansas Department of Health	Little Rock	Ark.	$49,659
Dental Health Foundation	Oakland	Calif.	$50,000
Colorado Department of Public Health& Environment	Denver	Colo.	$50,000
Delaware Dept. of Health & Social Services	Dover	Del.	$50,000
District of Columbia Department of Health	Washington	D.C.	$50,000
Florida Department of Health	Tallahassee	Fla.	$50,000
Georgia Department of Human Resources	Atlanta	Ga.	$100,000
Idaho Department of Health & Welfare	Boise	Idaho	$50,000
Illinois Department of Public Health	Springfield	Ill.	$50,000
Indiana Department of Health	Indianapolis	Ind.	$100,000
Iowa Department of Public Health	Des Moines	Iowa	$50,000
Kansas Dept. of Health And Environment	Topeka	Kan.	$50,000
Kentucky Cabinet for Health Services	Frankfort	Ky.	$98,050
Louisiana State U. Health Sciences Center	New Orleans	La.	$50,000
Maine Department of Human Services	Augusta	Maine	$50,000
Secretary of Health	Majuro	Marshall Islands	$100,000
Commonwealth of Massachusetts	Boston	Mass.	$100,000
Maryland Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene	Baltimore	Md.	$100,000
Republic of Palau	Palau	Micronesia	$50,000
Minnesota Department of Health	St. Paul	Minn.	$50,000
Mississippi Department of Health	Jackson	Miss.	$50,000
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services	Jefferson City	Mo.	$100,000
Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services	Helena	Mont.	$50,000
State of Nebraska	Lincoln	Neb.	$99,954
Nevada Department of Human Resources	Carson City	Nev.	$100,000
New Hampshire Dept. of Health & Welfare	Concord	N.H.	$50,000
North Dakota Department of   Health	Bismarck	N. D.	$50,000
New Mexico Department of Health	Santa Fe	N.M.	$49,654
Health Research, Inc.	Rensselaer	N.Y.	$50,000
Ohio Department of Health	Columbus	Ohio	$100,000
Oklahoma Department of Health	Oklahoma City	Okla.	$50,000
Oregon Department of Human Services	Portland	Ore.	$50,000
Chester County Community Dental Center	West Chester	Pa.	$50,000
Rhode Island Department of Health	Providence	R.I.	$50,011
State of  South Carolina	Columbia	S.C.	$50,000
South Dakota Department of Health	Pierre	S.D.	$49,999
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio	San Antonio	Texas	$99,825
Utah Department of Health	Salt Lake City	Utah	$50,000
State of Vermont	Burlington	Vt.	$50,000
Virginia Department of Health	Richmond	Va.	$50,000
Washington Department of Health	Olympia	Wash.	$50,000
W.Va. Dept. of Health & Human Resources	Charleston	W.Va.	$48,495
Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services	Madison	Wis.	$50,000
University of Wyoming	Laramie	Wyo.	$50,000
	TOTAL:		$2,945,604