Premature Birth

Did you know...

• Premature birth is the leading cause of newborn death (0-28 days)
• More than 500,000 babies are born too soon (before the 37 th week of pregnancy) in the U.S. every year
• In Utah, about 5,200 babies are born premature each year - that's 100 every day or one out of every 10 births
• Premature babies can suffer lifelong consequences, like mental retardation and blindness

The March of Dimes mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects and infant mortality. There is no better way to tackle these objectives than by attacking prematurity. Premature birth can happen to any woman. Nearly half of all early births happen for unknown reasons. The sooner we know those reasons the better for our babies.

The March of Dimes is taking on the problem of prematurity just as it did polio when President Roosevelt formed the organization in 1938. Anyone who would like to help fight this problem can donate to March of Dimes research to find the causes of premature birth.