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July 8, 2004
HONOLULU– Low birth weight, premature deliveries and substance
use during pregnancy are just some of the issues being tackled at the
"Hawaii 2004 Perinatal Summit", Friday, July 9th from 8:00
a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Hawaii Prince Hotel.
In Hawaii about 2,000 babies each year are born premature. These
children often require additional and expensive healthcare measures and
some can have long-term complications. Lack of prenatal care and
substance abuse are frequently contributing factors to these cases.
"Many of Hawaii’s premature and low-birth weight deliveries
are preventable," said Deliana Fuddy, Family Health Services Division
Chief, Hawaii State Department of Health. "We need to educate new
mothers that they have control over how healthy their baby will be. The
odds go up if they get prenatal care and don’t smoke, drink or
use drugs while pregnant."
The Summit is sponsored by the Hawaii Perinatal Consortium and
MedImmune, Inc. It aims to bring doctors, midwives, business leaders
and child advocates together to discuss how new perinatal data applies
to Hawaii and can be used to help our island keiki.
The keynote speaker for the conference is Professor Milton
Kotelchuck, Chairman of the Department of Maternal and Child Health at
the School of Public Health at Boston University. Professor Kotelchuck
has extensive national experience in developing, implementing and
evaluating public health programs to improve birth outcomes and child
health status. Local panelists will also be featured for each of the
primary issue panels to be offered (see attached agenda and
registration form).
This Summit provides an important forum for developing a statewide
plan, to address the challenging issue of protecting Hawaii’s
most vulnerable population. Summit organizers hope to build bridges
between the medical community and social service organizations and
continue to improve the health outcomes for all pregnant women and
their infants in Hawaii.
For more information on how to register for the 2004 Hawaii
Perinatal Summit, call (808) 951-5805, or visit the Healthy Mothers
Healthy Babies website at www.hmhb-hawaii.org
Program Agenda
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For More Information Contact:
Laura M. Lott
Department of Health
Information Specialist
Phone: (808) 586-4418
Email: lmlott@mail.health.state.hi.us
On-site contact:
Deliana Fuddy
Department of Health
Cell 478-8728
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