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2014 State Enrollment Contest

PRESS RELEASE May 11, 2014

States Commit to Make it Easy for New and Expenting Moms to Get Important Health and Safety Information  

Text4baby celebrates the kickoff of the Fourth Annual State Enrollment Contest to Improve Maternal and Infant Health One Text at a Time

 

WASHINGTON (May 11, 2014) – Since launch in 2010, Text4baby has reached more than 707,000 women with the support of over 1,150 federal, state, local and corporate partners who extend the Text4baby message through their own outreach programs nationwide. The State Enrollment Contest is an excellent opportunity for each state to exhibit friendly competition in the race to connect more moms to Text4baby’s critical health and safety information.

 

During previous contest periods,Text4baby’s Annual State Enrollment Competitionhas helped to connect over 260,000 pregnant and new moms to the service. In an effort to help women stay healthy during pregnancy and give their babies a strong start, the contest has encouraged local marketing, media and other outreach to mothers.

 

This year, the contest will highlight a different promotional theme each month to help partners implement successful strategies to engage women locally. Text4baby will also announce during the contest period an innovative new resource for moms designed to enhance the Text4baby experience.

 

The top states that enroll the highest percentage of pregnant women and mothers in Text4baby between May 11 and November 1, 2014 will be announced and recognized publicly at the Martha May Eliot Luncheon at the American Public Health Association’s Annual Conference in mid-November. States across the country are kicking off their contest activities with events featuring public officials, healthcare workers and families who have benefited from Text4baby.

 

The State Enrollment Contest is another way that Text4baby demonstrates the importance of connecting mothers to health resources. With a high infant mortality rate and not enough moms receiving proper care, too many babies in the U.S. are dying or are not given a healthy beginning. Text4baby helps address this issue. Women who text "BABY" (or “BEBE” for Spanish) to 511411 receive three free text messages a week, timed to their due date or their baby's birth date, through pregnancy and up until the baby’s first birthday. Independent research demonstrates that Text4baby increases women’s health knowledge, facilitates interaction with doctors, and improves appointment and immunization adherence, and mothers who use Text4baby are three times more likely to feel prepared for motherhood than non-Text4baby mothers.

 

“Helping mothers deliver and raise healthy babies is my mission, along with thousands of partners nationwide,” said Janice Frey-Angel, CEO of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition. “Through the contest, we hope all are empowered and excited to use the given tools to help women connect to Text4baby.”

 

National organizations that are supporting the 2014 State Enrollment Contest include:

 

  • American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
  • American Public Health Association (APHA)
  • Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP)
  • Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)
  • Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN)
  • National WIC Association (NWA)
  • Southern Governors’ Association (SGA)
  • The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy
  • Ventanillas de Salud


These organizations will be promoting the contest to their extensive memberships. For more information, visit www.text4baby.org.

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About Text4baby
Text4baby is the nation’s only free mobile information service designed to promote maternal and child health through text messaging. A free service of the nonprofit National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB), the Founding Sponsor is Johnson & Johnson. Founding partners include Voxiva, The Wireless Foundation, and Grey Healthcare Group (a WPP company). Text4baby’s public-private partnership also includes over 1,150national, state and local organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A special thank you goes to the carriers who support Text4baby so the service can be free to the end users. Those carriers are: AT&T, Bluegrass Cellular, Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless, MetroPCS, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, TracFone, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless and Virgin Mobile U.S.A. To learn more, please visit www.text4baby.org.