Continues Fight to Prevent Growing Premature Birth Rate
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., APRIL 2, 2002—With more than 500,000 walkers and 7 million volunteers, the nation's oldest and best-loved annual fundraising event for babies—March of Dimes WalkAmerica—will take place for the 32nd year in more than 1,200 communities over the weekend of April 27 and April 28. With a goal of $100 million, WalkAmerica will support solutions to the growing problem of prematurity, which is up by 23 percent since the early 1980s.
WalkAmerica has raised $1.3 billion for America’s babies since 1970 to prevent disease and disability. The funds collected support March of Dimes programs of research, community services, and education, which has included such lifesaving breakthroughs as:
- Initiation of special intensive care nurseries in hospitals to care for sick newborns.
- Research leading to the first successful fetal surgery to correct birth defects.
- Research on surfactant therapy, which helps babies born with under-developed lungs to breathe.
- Folic acid education campaign to prevent neural tube defects.
- Community grants to help women get prenatal care.
“We are immensely proud of the successes achieved by the March of Dimes, but our fight to save babies continues,” says Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, president of the March of Dimes. “In the last few years, we’ve seen the national rate of neural tube defects decline by 19 percent, thanks in part to our national folic acid campaign. However, we also know that the rate of premature births in the U.S. is growing and more than 450,000 babies are being born too soon or too small each year, putting them at greatly increased risk of lifelong physical and mental disabilities. In the first few months of 2002, research studies about the negative effects of prematurity has appeared in every major medical journal. There is so much more that needs to be done to give every baby a healthy start in life, and WalkAmerica is a great place for everyone to start.”
Approximately 24,000 teams will participate in WalkAmerica nationwide, drawn from corporations, unions, schools, clubs and other organizations. Celebrities, including Joe Namath, Deborah Norville, Nancy O’Dell, Jerry Rice, Jon Secada and Vanessa Williams will lead many walks.
The March of Dimes WalkAmerica national sponsors, Kmart Corporation, CIGNA HealthCare, and the National Peanut Board are leading the way to healthier babies. In its tenth year as national retail sponsor, Kmart Corporation is the top national WalkAmerica team, a distinction held for more than 17 years. CIGNA HealthCare, a leading provider of health benefit programs, returns for its eighth consecutive year as national health care sponsor and is the fourth largest national WalkAmerica team. The National Peanut Board joins the March of Dimes for its second year in helping to educate people about how the B vitamin folic acid in peanuts and legumes can help reduce the risk of certain birth defects. To register for WalkAmerica, call 1-800-525-WALK or visit www.marchofdimes.com/walkamerica.
The March of Dimes is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects and infant mortality. Founded in 1938, the March of Dimes funds programs of research, community services, education, and advocacy. For more maternal and infant health information, visit the March of Dimes Web site at www.marchofdimes.com, its Spanish web site at www.nacersano.org or call 1-888-MODIMES.
