what does it take to qualify for march of dimes to help
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March of Dimes Foundation: leading the way to birth defects prevention
Public Health Reviews volume 38, Article number:12 (2017) Cite this article
Abstract
Nativity defects are a major cause of mortality among children under five. In accordance with its mission, the March of Dimes Foundation is dedicated to reducing the toll of birth defects on children, families, and society. Founded in 1938 to fight polio, March of Dimes currently focuses on prevention of birth defects and preterm birth and has had a major influence on surveillance, inquiry, advocacy, sensation, and pedagogy related to birth defects prevention and care. In the United states, it has played an active function in promoting and advocating for newborn screening for early on diagnosis and treatment of built disorders, folic acid fortification of grains for prevention of neural tube defects, and more than recently on raising awareness about nascency defects related to Zika virus infection. March of Dimes has played a major role in promoting prevention of birth defects globally by publishing data-based reports and papers related to the toll of nativity defects and by supporting surveillance and preconception wellness pedagogy programs. March of Dimes birth defects health education materials directed for raising awareness among families are used worldwide. Additionally, March of Dimes had equipped health care workers and policy makers with essential information about birth defects through published materials and sponsoring of conferences that allow for networking and knowledge commutation. March of Dimes remains committed to prevention of birth defects through supporting research related to causes of birth defects, empowering women and girls with wellness knowledge, and advocating for policies and programs at national and global levels for giving every child an opportunity to attain his or her optimal level of health.
Background
Close to eight 1000000 babies worldwide are built-in with a serious nascence defect every year and more than than three million of them die before age five [1]. Under its current mission to meliorate the health of babies past preventing nativity defects, premature nascence, and babe mortality, the March of Dimes Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the toll taken past birth defects on children, families, and society in the U.s. and globally.
The March of Dimes was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938 to combat epidemic polio. Within the first twenty years of its existence, the March of Dimes funded the successful development of both the Salk and Sabin vaccines against this dreaded disease, leading the style to eliminating polio from most of the world.
With its longstanding history of influencing major developments to ameliorate public health outcomes, the March of Dimes has committed in recent decades to improving maternal and baby health in the USA and globally by supporting public and professional instruction, advocacy, customs services, and research. In 2016 lone, the March of Dimes provided more $five million in funding for investigator-initiated grants for cutting-border enquiry to place the leading causes of birth defects and ways to improve prevention and care.
Many March of Dimes-funded initiatives for improving the health of mothers and babies in the USA have benefitted populations around the world. For example, during the 1960s, March of Dimes medical director Dr. Virginia Apgar adult the APGAR score, a system to assistance health professionals evaluate the physical condition of babies at birth. Today, the APGAR score is used worldwide and serves as a universally understood initial cess tool to determine the health of a newborn. Dr. Apgar as well popularized the employ of the term "birth defects," which remains widely used worldwide to describe built anomalies. Like Dr. Apgar, numerous other March of Dimes grantees over the years accept paved the way to advances in enquiry and care for affected children. Through determining the underlying causes of certain nascence defects and identifying the risk factors associated with them, the March of Dimes promotes strategies for birth defects prevention.
The March of Dimes believes that every baby should receive the best care possible to assistance them achieve their best health. Information technology is this belief that led us to become a prominent phonation in advocacy for the creation and expansion of uniform newborn screening programs [2] to find metabolic disorders and other conditions non visible at nascency that may crusade catastrophic health problems or death if not diagnosed and treated immediately. Although early diagnosis and care of affected children are essential, the March of Dimes remains a potent proponent of efforts for prevention of birth defects. For case, in the early 1990s, in response to the emerging evidence that consuming folic acrid before pregnancy and into the commencement trimester could profoundly reduce a woman'south risk of having a baby with a neural tube defect (NTD), the March of Dimes led efforts to persuade the US Nutrient and Drug Administration to require folic acid fortification of the grain food supply. As a result of the mandatory folic acrid fortification in the United states, NTDs in the U.s.a. have declined past nigh one 3rd since fortification began in 1998 [three].
Two landmark reports published by the March of Dimes and partners have shown that the burden of nativity defects [1] and premature nascence [4] is specifically high in depression- and middle-income countries of the globe. Similarly, studies [v] have shown that babies in the USA have different chances of surviving and thriving simply based on the circumstances of their birth, i.east., their families' socio-economic status, race, and ethnicity, equally well equally their geographic location. The March of Dimes is leading a new movement for equity by promoting health for everyone, regardless of their income, education, racial/ethnic background, or health insurance condition. Our goal is ensure that every baby gets a fair adventure for a salubrious start in life.
Initiatives related to birth defects
Highlights of the Usa-based nascency defects efforts
When the March of Dimes initiated its mission to prevent birth defects, few people realized the scope or complexity of the problem. Even so, noesis rapidly expanded through conferences sponsored by the March of Dimes to foster exchanges amongst researchers and scientists from various disciplines. One such conference, which continued on an annual basis, is the Human being and Mammalian Genetics and Genomics Course at Jackson Laboratories in Bar Harbor, Maine, now in its 58th yr. The March of Dimes provided support for research and medical services in previously unexplored areas, such equally the report of homo chromosomes.
In 1953, the March of Dimes gave a grant to James D. Watson who, with Francis Crick, later identified the double helix construction of DNA. The pair won the Nobel Prize in 1962 and paved the way for modern genetic medicine, including the mapping of the human genome. The March of Dimes too established a network of birth defects centers in university and pedagogy hospitals around the country to provide, for the start time, early diagnosis and comprehensive intendance for babies born with birth defects.
In the early 1960s, March of Dimes grant funding enabled Dr. Robert Guthrie, who had developed the outset newborn claret test for PKU (phenylketonuria), to produce a mass screening examination for the disorder. The March of Dimes and patient/family groups went on to campaign tirelessly for expanded and standardized country newborn screening programs nationwide. Today, every infant born in every country in the Usa receives screening for a uniform console of atmospheric condition that tin exist treated soon after birth to prevent intellectual disability or decease.
In 1973, the March of Dimes published the first Birth Defects Atlas and Compendium, which standardized the names and descriptions of 842 nascence defects. Also in the 1970s, the March of Dimes initiated a regional organization of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in which babies with nascence defects or born prematurely could receive the best care.
Other notable accomplishments by researchers funded by the March of Dimes included the kickoff study showing that drinking alcohol during pregnancy could cause fetal alcohol syndrome and the development of surfactant therapy for babies born with young lungs that has saved the lives of hundreds of thousands.
Also in the early 1970s, the March of Dimes launched a new part of public affairs in Washington, DC, to coordinate advocacy for land and US federal legislation to farther prevention, didactics, and care for babies with birth defects. The March of Dimes has had many advocacy successes over the years, including the passage of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), ensuring health intendance coverage for up to 5 million children; the Nascency Defect Prevention Deed, establishing a National Centre on Nativity Defects and Developmental Disabilities; and the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Human action. The virtually recent advancement achievement was winning the Food and Drug Administration'southward agreement to voluntary fortification of corn masa flour with folic acid to further help reduce the incidence of NTD.
While pursuing a robust national policy agenda for birth defects prevention and care, the March of Dimes sought to raise public consciousness on nascence defects and teach known ways of prevention. The organization placed public service announcements in popular magazines and published dozens of informational materials. In the early 1980s, the March of Dimes launched its outset programme for advancing the overall wellness of women and babies. Babies & You was a prenatal didactics programme delivered in the workplace, with classes taught by March of Dimes staff or volunteers. This program has evolved into other educational offerings for women in the workplace available today.
In 1992, U.s. Public Wellness Service recommended that all women of childbearing age capable of becoming pregnant consume 400 micrograms of folic acid daily to reduce their take a chance for having a baby affected by an NTD. Following that, the March of Dimes launched its first national campaign urging women to take a multivitamin containing folic acid every day. This of import preconception health message evolved into an enhanced Folic Acid Entrada launched in 1999 in collaboration with the Centers for Affliction Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Higher of Obstetricians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Spina Bifida Association of America. Providing education for women, health care providers and the public to urge compliance with folic acid consumption guidelines for reducing risk of NTDs was the principal focus of the campaign, which ran from 1999 to 2002. This entrada had a major affect in increasing awareness of the importance of preconception folic acid consumption: In 1995, merely 4% of women reported knowing that folic acid tin prevent birth defects, and in 2004, 24% of women reported the same [6]. Building on this momentum, the March of Dimes and its partner organizations advocated for folic acid fortification of enriched grain products. Mandatory fortification of wheat flour became a police in 1996, taking event in 1998, and resulting in a 35% subtract [3] in the rate of NTDs in the USA from 1999 to 2011 [7].
After tremendous successes with campaigns for birth defects prevention, the March of Dimes decided to launch a new campaign to decrease the charge per unit of preterm birth in the United states in 2003. This Prematurity Entrada supports inquiry, education, customs service, and advocacy initiatives—the same strategies that yielded and then many discoveries and advances for birth defects prevention. 1 of the signature programs of this Prematurity Campaign is the March of Dimes NICU Family unit Support Program®, which provides comfort and information to families with a baby in the NICU, whether born preterm or with a birth defect. More than 75,000 families in the USA each year are helped by this program.
The March of Dimes commitment to nativity defects prevention is such that we are always responsive to emerging challenges. For example, later on the starting time commodity appeared in The New York Times on Dec 28, 2015, [8] calling attention to the Zika virus and its threat to pregnancy, the March of Dimes decided it was fourth dimension to inform women and men of childbearing historic period and the full general public nearly a possible Zika virus epidemic. Educational information was developed for consumers and fabricated available widely on our websites at world wide web.marchofdimes.org/zika and in Castilian on www.nacersano.org/zika. Wellness data specialists at the March of Dimes answered email queries about Zika infection and promoted prevention messages via social media. The March of Dimes held various media events to raise journalists' sensation virtually Zika and its potential bear upon on babies, and the March of Dimes became a leader in the fight confronting the spread of the virus. After months of intense advocacy by the March of Dimes and the coalition of more than ninety organizations that we headed, Congress finally passed a $i.1 billion Zika funding bill in September 2016. Working closely with the CDC and many other partners, the March of Dimes continues to promote Zika virus prevention while helping to develop information about services for families affected past Zika.
Salient global efforts related to nascence defects
In 1998, the March of Dimes decided to extend its mission globally through formation of a Global Programs Department. Although the March of Dimes does non take whatever international offices or staff in any other countries outside the USA, information technology is well-known and well-respected worldwide for its contributions to prevention of birth defects and premature birth. The March of Dimes conducts its global work mainly through partnerships with international and in-land organizations that piece of work in Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Kid and Boyish Health (RMNCAH). As a "Non-state Actor in Official Relations" with the Earth Wellness Organization (WHO) and with Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the March of Dimes has engaged in high-level scientific, technical, and policy discussions related to improving the health of mothers and babies globally. Additionally, we take supported and engaged local academic institutions in low-and heart-income countries to advance the wellness of women and girls through preconception health activities [ix].
One of the major contributions of the March of Dimes globally was to bring to low-cal the high worldwide toll of birth defects through the publication in 2006 of the first-ever state-level estimates of serious birth defects of genetic origin with information from 193 countries [one]. This report has served to advance date of researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in addressing the widely neglected outcome of birth defects. The study is further believed to be the impetus for the World Wellness Organization'south Birth Defects Resolution in 2010 that urged United Nations member states to appoint in birth defects awareness, surveillance, prevention, and intendance-related activities through development of national plans [10].
Recognizing the demand to build capacity in lower-income countries for prevention and care related to birth defects, in 2001, March of Dimes began sponsoring a biennial International Conference on Nativity Defects and Disabilities in the Developing World. To date, these conferences have been held in Tanzania (2015), the Philippines (2013), Poland (2011), India (2009), Brazil (2007), China (2005), and Southward Africa (2001). These conferences are usually attended past 300–400 participants and serve as a platform for discussions, knowledge sharing, and action. For example, the 2015 conference in Tanzania led to the publication of a consensus statement on "Prevention of Congenital Disorders and Care of Affected Children" [xi] signed by over 75 briefing participants. The 8th conference in this series is beingness planned to exist held in Bogota, Colombia in November 2017 and will address the ongoing epidemic of Zika virus-related birth defects, among other topics.
The March of Dimes is a world-renowned leader in raising birth defects sensation. On March 3, 2015, March of Dimes joined 11 other organizations to launch the first-e'er World Birth Defects Solar day, providing a platform for governmental and non-governmental agencies to raise sensation about birth defects globally. In 2017, the 3rd annual Earth Birth Defects Mean solar day efforts were formally joined by close to 80 organizations from nigh 35 countries that officially participated in raising sensation nigh surveillance, prevention, and care related to nascence defects. This endeavour resulted in over 24 one thousand thousand impressions on Twitter and other fundamental social media indicators related to the result.
Determination
The March of Dimes has had a critical role in raising awareness of nascency defects in the Us and globally, and has played a prominent role in influencing policies and programs for prevention of birth defects around the globe. From initially coining the term "nativity defects" to advocating for mandatory folic acid fortification for prevention of NTDs, to promoting educational activity for prevention of Zika virus-related nativity defects, the March of Dimes has demonstrated its leadership in the field of nascence defects.
The March of Dimes is focusing today on empowering women of childbearing age with wellness pedagogy. Nosotros believe that our mission to prevent nativity defects and premature birth can be fully realized only by enabling women to improve their own health and that of their families. This has led united states of america to develop health education data in plain language for women of childbearing age in both English language and Castilian. We achieve women globally through a multifariousness of media, including impress, web, video, and social media. We have trained health information specialists who answer questions and provide information through a diverseness of online channels. In low- and middle-income countries, we support programs for improving preconception health knowledge of women and girls in schools, workplaces, and communities. And in improver to consumer education, we take created tools and resource for health care professionals, healthcare organizations, and policymakers that are used worldwide.
Throughout its near 80 years of existence, the March of Dimes has maintained iii core values: bringing scientific discipline into service for people, building the public trust, and harnessing the ability of volunteers. These core values proceed to guide March of Dimes staff, volunteers, and corporate sponsors to support community service programs, advancement, inquiry, and education on nascency defects prevention and care. Until we observe ways to solve these conditions, we will non cease our efforts to better the quality of life for all those who are affected by them.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Michele Kling, Todd Dezen, and Csilla Ver for their assistance with the preparation of this paper.
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Walani, S.R., Biermann, J. March of Dimes Foundation: leading the mode to birth defects prevention. Public Wellness Rev 38, 12 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-017-0058-3
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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-017-0058-3
Keywords
- March of Dimes
- Birth defects
- Preterm birth
- Babies
- Zika
- Prematurity
Source: https://publichealthreviews.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40985-017-0058-3
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