ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Public Health says it would like to see lawmakers expand a state program aimed at bringing down the level of maternal and infant deaths.

Georgia’s public health commissioner, Dr. Kathleen Toomey, recently told a legislative committee that her department has had a successful first couple of years for its Home Visit Program.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health website, “the DPH Home Visiting Program provides services by public health department nurses and trained staff, to expectant mothers from pregnancy until the first year of their baby’s life, at no cost to patients or providers.”

Mothers in 75 Georgia counties now have access to the free program. Commissioner Toomey says they are targeting moms at higher risk of negative outcomes, but they’re also thinking about infant health.

“Mothers and babies go together,” Toomey says. “A healthy mother is going to have a healthy pregnancy.”