The American Samoa Department of Health (DOH), Behavioral Health Services Division, is posting the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant (CMHBG) Application for Fiscal Years 2026/2027 for public review and comment.
We encourage all members of the public to review the application and provide feedback on the proposed plan for behavioral health services in American Samoa.
Download the Plan: Click on the link below to view and download the plans for review.
The Children’s Healthy Living Food Systems Extension and Outreach (CHL FSEO) Pilot Projects were selected for funding in September 2023 and are currently being implemented in 2024. Projects were selected by local advisory committees based on their ability to engage and empower communities to influence the food system to support the health of young children in the US Affiliated Pacific. In today’s feature, we are happy to introduce one of the projects from American Samoa.
American Samoa Department of Health Dietitians/Nutritionists Rusila and Salote, who will lead the “First 1,000 Days Intervention” project in American Samoa. (photo provided by AS DOH)
Jurisdiction: American Samoa
Project Title: The First 1,000 Days Intervention
Organization: American Samoa Department of Health
The first 1,000 days of life span from roughly the time between conception and a child’s second birthday. According to UNICEF, the first 1,000 days is a unique window of opportunity for optimizing brain development to support strong foundations that last a lifetime. Adequate nutrition is critical to building these foundations1. As such, the American Samoa Department of Health (DOH) worked with community health centers and conducted home visits to inform and guide project proposal development. Through these interactions and data collected from nutrition counseling, referrals, and from various critical life stages, DOH identified key indicators reflecting areas of opportunity in the first 1,000 days including: (1) prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding, (2) timing of the introduction of complementary foods, and (3) weight status of children.
DOH aims to implement a Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative to improve breastfeeding-related practices2. The project will support training, community engagement, and the implementation of standardized procedures and practices to increase exclusive breastfeeding. DOH will work with the Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) Hospital and a community setting to establish American Samoa’s first baby friendly settings. The primary activities include training all relevant units in LBJ and key community-based leaders on the UNICEF/WHO Infant Young Child Feeding Training. The project will also address baby friendly setting policies to support establishment and implementation of supportive practices. Another policy-related initiative is increasing awareness and enforcement of recommendations in the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes in these settings.
Overall, DOH’s project will improve policies and environments aimed at improving the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding. DOH will also work to document and identify areas of strengths and improvement in the implementation of this project. Such activities will strengthen DOH’s capacity to expand and build on the successes of this project to further improve other environments in the critical early development of infants and young children in American Samoa.
Included here are work plans for American Samoa that are being made available public comment. Please direct comments and feedback to the email addresses below.
How to provide feedback:
Download the Plan: Click on the links below to download the plans for review.
We’re working on updating the strategies in the NCD Strategic Action Plan and need your input. Your thoughts and suggestions are crucial in shaping an islandwide approach to preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases.
