March of Dimes Gives $15,000 Grant to Health Department to Promote the Awareness and Consumption of Folic Acid
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The Barren River District Health Department will be receiving a $15,000 grant from the March of Dimes to educate women about taking the B vitamin folic acid daily to prevent birth defects of the brain and spine, called neural tube defects (NTDs). Diane Sprowl, Community Health Improvement Coordinator for the health department said, “we are pleased to be able to partner with the March of Dimes to work on our common vision of healthier babies.”
Neural tube defects are among the most serious and common birth defects in the United States. Each year, an estimated 2,500 babies are born with NTDs, and many additional affected pregnancies result in miscarriage or stillbirth. The most common NTD is spina bifida, a leading cause of childhood paralysis. Another NTD is anencephaly, a fatal condition in which a baby is born with a severely underdeveloped brain and skull. The March of Dimes and the Barren River District Health Department support the US Public Health Service recommendation that all women of childbearing age take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily.
The Barren River District Health Department will receive the grant from the March of Dimes and additional funding from the Kentucky Department for Public Health to provide a state Folic Acid Campaign Coordinator. The Folic Acid Coordinator is Susan Brown, RN, ICCE, IBCLC. Her responsibilities include facilitating the Kentucky Folic Acid Partnership, coordinating statewide activities directed at folic acid awareness and education, and participating in some of the statewide professional education, media, and community activities for folic acid promotion. According to Brown, “Research shows that is all women of childbearing age took 400 micrograms of the B vitamin folic acid daily, before and early in pregnancy, it may help reduce the number of NTD-affected pregnancies by up to 70 percent. The March of Dimes grant enables the Barren River District Health Department to continue to get this message out and educate women and health care providers about the importance of taking folic acid.”
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