March of Dimes Launches New Campaign to Fight Birth Defects and Premature Birth

Fifth Harmony's Ally Brooke Hernandez, a celebrity ambassador for the March of Dimes, is taking part in Give them tomorrow. "As a premature baby myself, my family faced many challenges in ensuring that I had a healthy start at life. There are so many obstacles for these babies and their families that each new day is a milestone," Ally says. "I'm working with the March of Dimes to help make sure more babies have the chance of tomorrow."

Beginning this fall, Give them tomorrow will encourage supporters and consumers nationwide to take an action to help give a fighting chance for every baby, such as sending a message of hope to a family of a baby in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU), which the March of Dimes will hand-deliver; sharing your baby's first milestones at #babysfirst with our social community; learning about prematurity research that saves babies' lives; and engaging with the annual World Prematurity Day on November 17. The March of Dimes has set a goal to generate a minimum of 380,000 actions to save babies' lives through the website, marchofdimes.org/tomorrow, to symbolize the number of babies born too soon in the U.S. each year.

Premature birth (before 37 weeks of pregnancy) is the #1 killer of babies. Even babies born just a few weeks too soon can face serious health challenges and are at risk for lifelong disabilities including breathing problems, vision loss, cerebral palsy, and intellectual delays.

In the United States, about 380,000 babies are born too soon each year – that's 1 in 10. The premature birth rate in our country is higher than that in most other high-resource nations.

The March of Dimes is setting the gold standard at our nationwide network of five Prematurity Research Centers, where about 200 of the brightest minds are collaborating to create major breakthroughs in prematurity. By working together, March of Dimes-funded scientists and researchers are finding answers to the unknown causes of premature birth.

Give them tomorrow is supported by corporate partners who are committed to saving babies' lives. Partners in 2016 include Mud Pie, Philips Avent, Famous Footwear, ALEX AND ANI, ALDI, Bon-Ton, and Anthem Foundation. More information about these partnerships and how to get involved can be found at www.marchofdimes.org/tomorrow.

The March of Dimes is the leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health. For more than 75 years, moms and babies have benefited from March of Dimes research, education, vaccines, and breakthroughs. For the latest resources and health information, visit marchofdimes.org and nacersano.org. You can also find us on Facebook or follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

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SOURCE March of Dimes

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http://www.marchofdimes.org