The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Missouri, is providing a $50,000 grant to the March of Dimes Foundation to fund its 'Radio Broadcasters for Babies' outreach and awareness campaign.
With the one-year $50,000 grant, the Anthem BCBS Foundation will provide $143,000 over a five-year period. The grant will also support the March of Dimes mission areas of education, community service, research and advocacy.
This is the fourth year that the Anthem BCBS Foundation has supported the radio campaign and other programs designed to increase awareness of the problems stemming from pre-term birth.
"This is a national health epidemic and March of Dimes is one of the only non-profit health agencies focusing on this issue," said Ruth Meyer Hollenback, vice president of Health Services at Anthem BCBS in Missouri and a member of the March of Dimes board in St. Louis. "This health crisis disproportionately affects minority populations. Nearly one in five African-American babies in Missouri is born too soon."
The March of Dimes Broadcasters for Babies program reached 100 million listener impressions in 2007. It features live and recorded announcements and interviews involving families who have experienced pre-term birth. Radio stations donate airtime to the program.
The campaign emphasizes that pregnant women should stop smoking - corresponding with two goals of the company's State Health Index strategy to reduce the number of low birth-weight babies and smokers in the state. The rate of premature birth has risen 20 percent since 1990.
"The cost to families, employers and insurers is escalating," said Dennis Matheis, president of Anthem BCBS in Missouri. "The average first-year medical costs for a pre-term birth are 10 times greater than for a full-term birth. The campaign, with emphasis on steps to reduce pre-term birth - such as smoking cessation - is essential to educate the community."
The majority of the funds received under the BCBS grant will support March of Dimes efforts to fund community-based programs that improve medical care for pregnant women, inform women of the need to take folic acid, conduct smoking-cessation programs, advocate for better access to health care for pregnant women and babies and research the causes of premature birth.
"Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield is a crucial partner in our Broadcasters for Babies campaign," said Deborah Kersting, Missouri executive director of the March of Dimes. "The radio broadcast community plays an important role in informing Missourians that premature birth is an epidemic and other March of Dimes chapters around the nation are adopting it."
The March of Dimes funds programs of research, community services, education and advocacy to save babies and in 2003 launched a campaign to address the increasing rate of premature birth. The Missouri Chapter invests $5 million a year for research, education, community services and advocacy.