Preterm birth is a leading cause of infant death in the United States, and babies who survive face serious lifelong health problems. More than 543,000 babies are born too soon each year, and the nation’s premature birth rate has increased 36 percent since the early 1980s. In an attempt to combat this serious problem, an innovative program was developed aimed to develop current prenatal care practices known as CenteringPregnancy. This is a group model of prenatal care was developed by the Centering Healthcare Institute, which provides training and support to healthcare providers to adopt this proven intervention. It also requires pregnant women to spend a certain amount of time with health care providers and with other pregnant women. In this way they get a chance to learn a lot more about pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. Regular check-ups, support, and education also take place in a group setting.

Interest in the CenteringPregnancy model has grown due to a randomized, controlled trial reported in 2007 in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, which found that women who received CenteringPregnancy care were 33 percent less likely to have preterm births than women who received standard prenatal care. The Institute for Family Health has successfully implemented the program, helping their prenatal patients decrease c-sections from 28 percent to 21 percent, preterm births from 8.3 percent to 1.8 percent and decreased low birthweight from 8.3 percent to 2.65 percent, according to results of an IFH evaluation of its 2008-2009 CenteringPregnancy groups.

Due to the success of the program, Kmart recently honored March of Dimes-in their support to this new prenatal care program during a ceremony at The Institute for Family Health (IFH) in Manhattan. March of Dimes (marchofdimes.com) is a leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health. “It is such a privilege to see first-hand the amazing, life-changing work that is supported by the March of Dimes,” said Mark Snyder, Kmart’s chief marketing officer. “As a result of our employees and customers’ generosity, Kmart is proud to have surpassed the $80 million fundraising milestone this year, and we look forward to continuing our support of such a generous organization and celebrating our shared commitment to giving babies a healthy start in life.”

March of Dimes have provided support totaling $1.27 million in 2009 alone to fund more than 60 CenteringPregnancy programs in 31 of its chapters nationwide. Since 2005, the March of Dimes has invested $4.13 million to fund the expansion of this model of care to more clinics and more women. ”CenteringPregnancy is one of a small number of programs that we know work to reduce premature birth,” said Dr. Scott Berns, senior vice president of Chapter Programs, March of Dimes. “Since the evidence has mounted, we have stepped up our investment to make this model available to thousands more women every year.”

Related articles:

• How To Manage Stress During Pregnancy (blogs.wsj.com)
• March of Dimes Announces 2010 Colorado Funding (eon.businesswire.com)

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