Alaska takes proposals through Sept. 14 for a $3 million perinatal addiction grant

Only 10% of the 937 pregnant Alaskans who needed substance use treatment in 2022 received it, according to a Department of Health grant solicitation posted Tuesday. Proposals are due Sept. 14 through the state's GEMS portal.

The Division of Public Health seeks proposals for its Access to Perinatal Health Support program, funded at $1 million a year in fiscal 2027 through 2029 from a federal substance use block grant. It anticipates four awardees at $250,000 a year, at least one serving the Southwest or Northern Public Health Regions, where pregnancy-associated mortality, 284 and 247 per 100,000 live births, runs about three times the rest of Alaska.

The stated goal is cutting the statewide five-year rate from 143.7 to 100. Drug overdose caused 17 of the state's 66 pregnancy-associated deaths from 2019 through 2023.

The department ran this once already, closing May 21, with no award notice posted. The project period begins Nov. 1.