Innovative Free Health Text Messaging Service Wins Leadership Award
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PR Contact:
Andrea Goodman
National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition
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Text4baby Presented with the 2012 Fall Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Health Braintrust Leadership in Advocacy Award
WASHINGTON - The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Health Braintrust presented its 2012 Leadership in Advocacy Award to the text4baby™ program at the 2012 Fall CBC Health Braintrust Luncheon and Awards Ceremony. The Luncheon and Awards Ceremony occurred on the third day of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference that took place at the Washington Convention Center September 19-22.
Text4baby is the nation’s first free text messaging service for pregnant women and mothers of infants under age one. Moms receive three text messages every week, timed to their due date or baby’s birth date, throughout pregnancy and up to baby’s first birthday. Moms get information on labor signs and symptoms, developmental milestones, breastfeeding, car seat and sleep safety, and many other topics. To sign up, text BABY (or BEBE in Spanish) to 511411. By providing moms with free, accurate, and easy-to-understand health information via text message, text4baby is helping to connect more moms to the resources, care, and knowledge they need to make the best possible choices for their babies.Text4baby is one piece of the solution to addressing the complicated problem of infant mortality. The month of September marked National Infant Mortality Awareness Month (NIMAM), and the United States ranks 41st internationally in infant mortality, behind many developed nations that spend significantly less than the U.S. on health care. Not only is the American rate high compared to other countries, but health disparities within the U.S. linger: for example, African-American babies die at a rate more than twice that of their white counterparts.
The luncheon included a panel discussion that focused on issues of health equity in the United States. Dr. J. Nwando Olayiwola, a family practice physician, shared information with attendees on how text4baby is helping to connect more moms to critical health and safety information- particularly those facing disproportionately high risks of poor birth outcomes and infant mortality. She was joined by Equilla Wainwright, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor, Anthony Brown.
Representative Donna Christensen (D - VI), the chair of the CBC Health Braintrust, presented the Leadership in Advocacy Award to text4baby. Kimberly Bassett, Executive Director of The Wireless Foundation, who accepted the award as a co-founder of the text4baby program, said, “Text4baby combines the power of wireless communications and an innovative private-public partnership to help give babies a healthy start in life. I’m extremely proud of the wireless industry for stepping up as a founding partner of the initiative, and am thrilled to accept this award on behalf of text4baby and all of its partners around the country,”
Johnson & Johnson is the founding sponsor of text4baby, and has been integral to the on-going success of the program. Susan Can, Director of Brand Equity, said, “The desire to make people healthier and safer has been at the heart of Johnson & Johnson’s commitment to maternal and child health. Text4baby is the largest mobile health offering of its kind, but we still have work ahead to ensure that this service reaches the millions of moms who need it.”
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About Text4baby
Text4baby is made possible through a public-private partnership. 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). Learn more: www.text4baby.org.
About CTIA
CTIA-The Wireless Association® (www.ctia.org) is an international organization representing the wireless communications industry. Membership in the association includes wireless carriers and their suppliers, as well as providers and manufacturers of wireless data services and products. CTIA advocates on behalf of its members at all levels of government. The association also coordinates the industry’s voluntary best practices and initiatives, and sponsors the industry’s leading wireless tradeshows. CTIA was founded in 1984 and is based in Washington, D.C.