Prematurity Campaign is the March of Dimes’ multiyear, multimillion-dollar research, awareness, and education campaign to help families have healthier babies.

The campaign:
• Funds research to find the causes of premature birth
• Encourages investment of public and private research dollars to identify causes and to identify and test promising interventions
• Educates women about risk-reduction strategies and the signs and symptoms of premature labor
• Provides information and emotional support to families affected by prematurity
• Advocates to expand access to health care coverage to improve maternity care and infant health outcomes
• Helps health care providers to improve risk detection and address risk factors
• Generates concern and action around the problem

National Research Agenda on Prematurity

The March of Dimes Scientific Advisory Committee on Prematurity has identified six priority areas for a national research agenda on prematurity. Preterm birth is a complex disorder, like heart disease or diabetes, with no single cause. Consequently, it requires a multifaceted approach. The six priority areas are:

1. New epidemiologic studies focused on the risk of extremely preterm births to identify the factors that predispose women to very early labor and delivery.
2. Genes and their interaction with the environment that, together, lead to preterm birth
3. Racial and ethnic differences. While prematurity affects all socioeconomic groups, there are significant racial and ethnic disparities. For example, in 2002, non-Hispanic African Americans had the highest rate of premature births at 17.7 percent, well above the national rate of 12.1 percent. We know very little about why these differences occur. 
4. The roles of infection and immune response to those infections.
5. The effects of stress on the mother and fetus.
6. Clinical trials to assess the impact of potential treatments, to identify the women who could most benefit, and to determine the best time to provide treatment during pregnancy.