“Preterm birth remains one of the most complicated and difficult to address research and public health issues in obstetrics and pediatrics...This conference will help set an agenda that will serve as a comprehensive blueprint to speed the identification of the causes of, risk factors for, and treatment of preterm labor and delivery.” Acting Surgeon General Steven K. Galson, M.D., M.P.H, RADM, USPHS
Over the course of three years, millions of active March of Dimes volunteers and staff across the nation worked with Representatives and Senators from both sides of the aisle to enact the PREEMIE Act (P.L. 109-450). The PREEMIE Act calls for expanding federal support for research, education and pilot testing strategies to prevent preterm birth.
A key provision of PREEMIE is the convening of a Surgeon General's conference on preterm birth to create a public-private agenda to accelerate the development of new strategies for preventing preterm birth and for treating babies who are born too soon.
There will be six work groups that will each develop proposed action steps: Biomedical Research; Epidemiological Research; Psychosocial and Behavioral Considerations; Professional Education and Training; Public Communication and Outreach; and Quality of Care and Health Services. These groups will consist of experts from the public and private sectors.
In addition to Acting Surgeon General Rear Admiral Steven K. Galson, other keynote speakers include Dr. Jennifer Howse, president of the March of Dimes; Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) who co-authored the legislation; and Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
The purpose of the conference is to create a national agenda and action plan, while also increasing awareness of preterm birth as a serious, common, and costly public health problem:
- Preterm birth is common: According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the preterm birth rate is currently 12.8 percent of all live births in the U.S. That’s more than 540,000 babies each year who are born too soon.
- Preterm birth is serious: According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), premature birth is the number one cause of infant mortality in the U.S. Those infants who do survive often have compromised health and face serious developmental challenges.
- Preterm birth is costly: According to a 2006 Institute of Medicine report, the economic burden of preterm birth in the U.S. was at least $26.2 billion in 2005, or $51,600 per infant born preterm. Approximately half of the cost of health care is borne by employers and families with the remainder billed to Medicaid, S-CHIP and other public programs.
The 2006 enactment of PREEMIE, coupled with the Institute of Medicine report, underscores the need to address premature birth in our country with the same sense of urgency and focus that has been brought to other threats to children's health, including secondhand tobacco smoke and rising rates of obesity. It’s time to put preterm birth on the national agenda and assure funding for research into its causes and preventions.
