WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by Cathy Melvin, Ph.D., MPH Chair of the National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit and Director, Smoke-Free Families National Dissemination Office:
Neonatal health care costs linked to maternal smoking are estimated at $366 million per year, according to the latest data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These soaring costs are preventable and more importantly, so are the devastating health effects on women and their unborn babies, according to today's edition of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
The National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit is working on several fronts to reduce the rate of smoking during pregnancy, including working with states to provide them with technical assistance and access to resources. As part of this effort, the National Partnership encourages state officials to take action by accessing state-specific data provided by the CDC's Maternal and Child Health Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs software (MCH SAMMEC).
Organizations like The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which support the National Partnership, helped fund the development of the MCH SAMMEC software so that states can measure the cost effectiveness of prevention and cessation treatment strategies for women who smoke during pregnancy.
Today's MMWR also reports that smoking during pregnancy has declined in the United States (1990-2002), due largely in response to public education campaigns. However, according to the latest Surgeon General's Report, The Health Consequences of Smoking, up to 22 percent of pregnant women continue to smoke. In addition, 10 states have reported recent increases in smoking by pregnant teens. On behalf of The National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit, I am encouraged by the downward trend in smoking during pregnancy, but maintain that there is much to be done to reduce the percentage of pregnant smokers to less than 1 percent as recommended in Healthy People 2010.
The National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit is a coalition of diverse organizations that have joined forces to improve the health of this and future generations by increasing the number of pregnant smokers who quit smoking. Through a nationwide effort to reach women, providers and communities, the National Partnership hopes to ensure that all pregnant women in the United States are screened for tobacco use, and receive best-practice cessation counseling as part of their prenatal care. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the largest U.S. foundation devoted to improving the health and health care of all Americans, funds the National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit.
National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers QuitCONTACT: Carolyn Busse of Smoke-Free Families, +1-919-966-3847; or MariaDroumbanis of Porter Novelli, +1-202-973-1360, for the National Partnership toHelp Pregnant Smokers Quit