Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 5, 1 Mei 1990 — Pre-natal care is important for baby [ARTICLE]

Pre-natal care is important for baby

Early and sustained prenatal care is an inexpensive way to decrease the number of babies born too early (pre-term) or too small (with low birthweight). Babies born too small have a 40-times greater ehanee of dying during their first year of life and often suffer long term disabilities. Over the last three years in Hawai'i, an average of 154 babies have died every year before reaching their first birthday. Eaeh year in Hawai'i, hundreds of infants spend the first crucial months of their lives in incubators in intensive care units hooked up to monitors and respirators. The objectives of prenatal care are to promote the health and well-being of the pregnant woman,

the infant, and the family. The three basic components of prenatal care are (1) early and continuing risk assessment, to identify early any conditions that might endanger the pregnancy, (2) health promotion, to ensure good health habits during the pregnancy, and (3) medical and psychosocial interventions and follow-up. For prenatal care to be effective, it must be available and it must be used. In 1988, the precentage of women receiving early prenatal care in Hawai'i dropped to 71.6 percent, a record low not seen since 1978. In 1987, Hawai'i ranked 36th in the nation for early prenatal care rates.

Early care is not enough: it must be kept up throughout pregnancy and be comprehensive. Changes in risk status ean be monitored, problems identified and treated, and referrals for other needed services made. Statistics indicate that only 66.5 percent of women in Hawai'i received adequate prenatal care in 1986, ranking the state 35th in the nahon. It is expected that this rank has further fallen in the last two years. Hawaiian women received even less care. Only 55 percent of Native Hawaiian women received adequate care in 1987. For further information, contact: Lisa A. Simpson, M.D., in Honolulu at 735-3056.