States Sign On with Text4baby to Deliver Mobile Health Information Into the Hands of New & Expecting Moms

USA - English

• Latin America - español

WASHINGTON, May 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Text4baby, the free mobile health service, is making it much easier for pregnant women and new moms to connect with the care they need. By simply texting "BABY" (or "BEBE" for information in Spanish) to 511411, women can register to receive weekly text messages, timed to their individual due dates or their baby's birth date throughout their pregnancy and baby's first year. The tips and messages, which have been developed in collaboration with government and nonprofit health experts, deal with nutrition, immunization and birth defect prevention, among other topics.

Each day in America:

• 11,686 babies are born
• 1,487 babies are born preterm
• 964 babies are born with low birthweight
• Only 63% of mothers under age 20 get adequate pre-natal care.

From May until October 2011, states around the nation will be looking for innovative ways to encourage moms to engage with the text4baby program, as part of a recently launched national competition to get moms to sign up and join the movement. The State Enrollment Contest brings together over 500 text4baby partners to help spread the word about maternal and infant health. The top three states to enroll the most users in text4baby between now and the end of October 2011 will be announced at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in Washington, DC in November.

An updated text4baby website will help track state-by-state enrollment and partners will be able to access  hyper-local statistics by ZIP code. Participants across the country will be able to check in with the site (http://www.text4baby.org), which re-launched today in English to learn more about the contest and activities in their area. The website will also be available in Spanish later this year.

"Every day there is a new group of women who find out they are pregnant, and there is so much that moms need to know. Text4baby is free service that makes motherhood a little easier," said Judy Meehan, CEO National Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition. "The State Enrollment Contest is an exciting opportunity to reach as many users as possible through healthy competition among the states and the over 500 text4baby partners."    

Here are some ways to support your state and be part of the text4baby movement:

• Sign up for text4baby
• Share text4baby on Twitter (@mytext4baby) along with the hashtag #T4B2011
• Become a fan of text4baby on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/#!/text4baby)
• Talk to your local healthcare provider about the text4baby service
• Share text4baby with friends and family

For more information, visit www.text4baby.org.

About the State Enrollment Contest:

This state contest grew out of the enthusiasm of text4baby partners and their support for promoting text4baby as a valuable tool for improving maternal and infant health. All fifty states have a chance to join the contest. Enrollment is weighted by pregnancy and birth rates in each state. The State Enrollment Contest is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National WIC Association, Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP), National Healthy Start Association (NHSA), March of Dimes, National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), National Alliance for Hispanic Health, and CityMatCH.

About text4baby

Text4baby is made possible through a public-private partnership that includes government, corporations, academic institutions, professional associations, tribal agencies and non-profit organizations. Johnson & Johnson is the founding sponsor. Founding partners include the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, Voxiva, CTIA - The Wireless Foundation, and Grey Healthcare Group (a WPP company). U.S. government partners are the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense Military Health System, and the US Department of Agriculture. The mobile health platform is provided by Voxiva, and free messaging services are generously provided by participating wireless service providers. Implementation partners include BabyCenter, Danya International, Syniverse Technologies, Keynote Systems, and The George Washington University. MTV Networks is a media sponsor.

SOURCE National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition