State Contest Winner: North Carolina
In 2008, 130,839 babies were born in North Carolina. Unfortunately, 12.9% of births were pre-term, 9.1% of babies were born at a low birth weight, and 8.1 babies per 1,000 died before their first birthday. These statistics highlight the need for innovative strategies at the national and state level to address maternal and child health, including the provision of accurate and timely health information.
2011 State Enrollment Contest
The goal of the text4baby State Enrollment Contest was to reach users through healthy competition among the states and engagement of the over 675 text4baby Outreach Partners. The top three states that enrolled the most users in text4baby (as a percentage of possible new enrollees) between May 10 and October 20, 2011 were announced on November 1 at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. The states were ranked based on how many new users enrolled in text4baby in each state during the contest period as a percentage of eligible moms (based on a calculation of estimated new pregnancies and live births for each state).
Enrollment Numbers
During the contest period, a total of 4,762 new users enrolled in the text4baby service in North Carolina. With a 90% increase, total users went from 5,279 to 10,041 during the contest period. Based on live births data, we estimated the number of new pregnancies and live births occurred each week during the contest period. North Carolina came in 3rd place by enrolling an estimated 4.4% (or 44 per 1,000) of the eligible moms.
Promotional Activities during Contest Period
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), the North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation (NCHSF), and other state partners have been very involved in promoting text4baby throughout the State Enrollment Contest. In April 2011, 525 text4baby radio spots ran on eight stations in three markets. At the beginning of the summer, NC DHHS sent an email to all state partners asking them to collaborate and share ideas on promoting text4baby.
In August 2011, the North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation (NCHSF) launched the first text4baby public service announcement (PSA) on television funded by a Pregnancy Assistance Fund grant they received from the NCDHHS. Two women who were already text4baby subscribers were selected to be in the PSA. The PSA was filmed in one day. Since one woman was Latina, the ad was adapted to show how to access the text4Baby service in Spanish. In order to reach a large number of potential text4baby subscribers, NCHSF identified three urban areas in which to air the ad: the Triad (Greensboro/Winston-Salem), Charlotte, and the Triangle. The PSA ran throughout the entire month of August on popular television channels (i.e., on TimeWarner Cable channels including BET, MTV, Nickelodeon, Lifetime, and Learning Channel). There were a total of 316 ads aired in the Triangle, 626 in the Triad, and 230 in Charlotte. Additionally, NCHSF put the radio and television ads on the Young Moms Connect website, a site NCHSF created to be a one-stop-shop for young moms who are looking for health and safety information and resources.
The PSA appears to have had an immediate and significant impact (see chart below), as there was a sharp increase in enrollment in the state immediately following the ad campaign launch. North Carolina moved in the rankings from 17th place to the number one spot in the State Enrollment Contest at that time. In late September, NCDHHS staff participated in a webinar where they discussed their involvement in text4baby promotional activities across the state. The chart below illustrates the enrollment increases correlated with the text4baby radio segment (in April) and television PSA (in August).
Text4baby State Partners:
• North Carolina Department of Health and Human Service
• North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
• Carteret County Health Department
• Columbus County Health Department
• Durham Early Head Start
• North Carolina Chapter of March of Dimes
• Onslow County Health Department
• Park Ridge Health
• Granville-Vance District Health Department
For more information, please contact:
Tonya Daniel
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
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919-707-5680