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New
Hampshire Birth Defects Tracking Program Program Title:
New Hampshire Birth Conditions Program
Organization: Department of Pediatrics, Dartmouth College
Project Period: March 2005–February 2010
Project Director: John B. Moeschler, MD
Grant Title: Population-Based Birth Defects Surveillance
Programs and the Utilization of Surveillance Data by Public Health
Programs
Project Summary
The New Hampshire Birth Conditions Program
(BCP) conducts birth defects program activities as an agent of the
state. It is a collaboration between Dartmouth Medical School and
several programs within the New Hampshire Department of Health and
Human Services. Through this project, the BCP will establish a
statewide surveillance system to actively identify and track birth
defects among all New Hampshire newborns and fetuses. The project
will also expand the NH Folic Acid Education and Birth Defects
Prevention activities to include a fetal alcohol syndrome component.
Project Goals and ActivitiesSurveillance
- Maintain an active surveillance system to monitor the
prevalence of births defects.
- Track prenatal data on stillbirths and fetal losses in the
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center Clinical Information System.
- Identify and collect data on birth conditions among live
births, fetal deaths, miscarriages, and elective terminations
occurring in New Hampshire.
- Understand and address barriers to case reporting that occur
in border hospitals.
- Analyze and report BCP data in a timely manner.
- Evaluate the BCP surveillance methodology and data quality.
Prevention
- Maintain current statewide folic acid
prevention activities for women of childbearing age and their
health care providers.
- Increase public awareness of the importance
of folic acid before and during pregnancy.
- Improve use of surveillance data to ensure
that children with neural tube defects (NTDs) and their families
are enrolled in prevention and early intervention programs.
- Evaluate Folic Acid Program effectiveness by
monitoring trends in NTDs and public perception of folic acid
use in New Hampshire.
Referrals
- Develop and implement a system of care
coordination to improve access to health and social services and
early intervention for children with birth conditions and their
families.
- Evaluate the birth conditions surveillance
system as a means to improve early identification of children
with birth conditions in need of services.
- Produce, disseminate, and evaluate
informational and educational materials on the BCP website with
links to existing health and social services.
- Work with NH DHHS on data linkages with the
Data Warehouse and on continuing activities with NH Vital
Records.
Date:
March 11, 2009
Content source: National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental
Disabilities
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