LANSING, Mich. – Making fruits and vegetables more readily available, cancer screenings by mail, health coaches and exercise programs are just several of the local initiatives getting funding from the Michigan Department of Community Health.

The MDCH recently announced 44 projects are getting approximately $1.34 million, including a dozen projects in West Michigan.  The grants include:

BELDING, Mich.—  Students of Faith Community Christian School will have a long weekend, as administrators shut down the school because of illness.

Principal Kim Borgeson says seven of the school’s 27 students were sick Wednesday.  Their symptoms included coughing and fever.  Borgeson says school employees are concerned it may be whooping cough, but so far there is no diagnosis.

While the school is normally cleaned daily, Borgeson says administrators are following the recommendations of the Ionia County Health Department by shutting down the building Thursday and Friday for a deeper scrub down.  She says workers will focus on disinfecting bathrooms, computer mice, keyboards and other surfaces the children normally come in contact with.

GREENVILLE, Mich. (Detroit Free Press) -- In a state where nearly 7 in every 1,000 babies die before their first birthdays, efforts to promote breastfeeding in hospitals and homes of new moms seem to paying off, according to a new federal report.

Health experts say one of the best ways to fortify baby against a world full of disease is with mother’s milk.

In 2013, three of four babies born in Michigan are breastfed at least once, with nearly 1 in four still being breastfeed a year later, according to the 2014 Breastfeeding Report Card by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

The reasons?

Efforts by local hospitals and health advocates to focus on the first hours and days after birth.