Collaborative strategic map
In 2016, the March of Dimes hosted a two-day strategic planning session with 30 different organizational leaders. Its purpose was to develop a five-year strategic map for mobilizing support to meet our preterm birth rate goals in the U.S. of 8.1 percent by 2020 and 5.5 percent by 2030 with a focus on high-burden populations and areas.
If the 2020 goal is achieved, 210,000 fewer babies will be born prematurely (1.1 million fewer if the 2030 goal is achieved), resulting in savings of $67 billion in health and societal costs. View the summary of the discussion points addressed at the planning session.
The strategic map identifies five critical strategies and a central challenge: Achieve equity and demonstrated improvements in preterm birth. The five critical strategies that are now being pursued include:
- Promoting health equity
- Improving clinical and public health practice
- Expanding research and translating findings to new forms of prevention and treatment
- Developing effective messaging to raise awareness about the urgent problem of prematurity and public policies to prevent it
- Seeking additional funding and resources
View the strategic map.