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Hawaii must fight rise
in premature births

Preterm birth is on the rise, both locally and nationally. At 13.7 percent, Hawaii is currently ranked seventh in the nation in the percent of births that occur too early, behind several Southern states, such as Mississippi and Alabama, that have long been identified as having poor overall health care for large segments of their populations.

Unfortunately, almost half of the 476,000 premature births that occur each year in the United States, including many of the preterm births occurring in Hawaii, happen to healthy women with no known risk factors -- and no one knows why. It is becoming increasingly evident, however, that these births are "outcome" events, with varied causes -- many still unidentified -- that might be working separately or in unison to precipitate early labor and delivery.

The March of Dimes is committed to supporting efforts to untangle the various threads that might cause preterm birth. We understand the key to finding the answers lies in a combination of research into the causes and treatments of preterm birth and in the education of health care providers and the general public to the problems and solutions to preterm birth. Toward this end, the March of Dimes launched its National Prematurity Awareness Campaign in 2003.

As co-chairmen of the March of Dimes Hawaii Chapter Prematurity Campaign Executive Committee, we would like to take this opportunity to inform and update the public regarding this national campaign as well as some of our local initiatives.

National Campaign Goals include:

To achieve these goals the March of Dimes has identified the following intentions or aims for local and national activities:
With the support of the media and partner organizations, we are confident of achieving a marked increase in public awareness. We realize that the Healthy People 2010's goal calling for reducing the nation's premature birth rate to 7.6 percent of live births is a somewhat lofty goal. But a certain degree of loftiness is inherent in any goal. Goals are targets to aspire toward. Perhaps this target seems a bit high to many in the field of obstetrics, but with the combined effort of the public, the medical community, and public and private research institutions, the March of Dimes will reach this goal.

In Hawaii, the Prematurity Awareness Campaign will continue to be the focus of our mission -- fund raising, communications, advocacy and program activities through 2010. While we work toward the answers to preterm birth, we also will continue our efforts to encourage all pregnant women to access early and continuous prenatal care as a means of ensuring that prenatal care providers have the opportunity to detect and treat any complications that can currently be diagnosed.

As the March of Dimes was successful in finding answers to the prevention of polio, we are dedicated to once again finding the answers -- this time to the mysteries of preterm birth -- so that every child will have a better chance at a healthy start in life.

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