FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Christine Rogers
(919) 256-9593
Breastfeeding awareness campaign launches in eastern North Carolina
(Raleigh, NC) – The North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation, with funding from the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund, is launching a first of its kind breastfeeding awareness campaign in eastern North Carolina. The Share the Gift Only You Can Give campaign will get underway May 3, 2010 and is aimed at promoting the benefits of breastfeeding for both mom and baby. Research shows that breastfeeding provides babies with a stronger immune system and helps them maintain a healthy weight. It can also reduce a mother's risk for breast cancer and diabetes. Despite these known benefits, many women are choosing not to breastfeed.
Data from the 2008 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Breastfeeding Report Card indicate that breastfeeding initiation rates are lower in North Carolina than in the nation. Data from North Carolina's 2006 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring Survey (PRAMS) indicate that specific groups of women in North Carolina are less likely to initiate this health-promoting practice than others. Specifically, breastfeeding rates are lower among younger women, those with lower levels of education and/ or income, African American women, single women and those who are less likely to adopt other health-promoting behaviors. Geographically, breastfeeding rates are lower in the eastern part of the state than the state as a whole.
Two television spots were produced featuring moms from eastern North Carolina talking about their personal reasons for breastfeeding. With research suggesting that influencers (such as spouses, partners, and grandmothers) have a strong impact on a woman's decision to breastfeed, the ads also feature a grandmother with twin granddaughters who delivers the message, "My granddaughters are breastfed… Nothing but the best for them." And a message from a dad who says, "I support breastfeeding because it's great for both mom and baby." The spots will air in the Greenville/ New Bern television market on all broadcast network affiliate stations and a variety of cable channels during the entire month of May and again in the fall.
"This is an exciting campaign which will allow us to reach and hopefully influence many young women and families about the importance of breastfeeding," says Campaign Coordinator, Christine Rogers, Communications Manager with the North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation. "While many people are aware of the health benefits of breastfeeding for babies, most are unaware of the many benefits for mom, like the reduction in their risk for breast cancer and diabetes."
The breastfeeding awareness social marketing and media campaign is made possible with a two-year grant from the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund. In addition to the ads, the Foundation will distribute a companion educational brochure, There are Lots of Reasons to Breastfeed, to various WIC offices and county health departments in the east. To learn more about the campaign or other North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation initiatives visit us online at www.NCHealthyStart.org or call 919-828-1819.
###
The N.C. Healthy Start Foundation, a
nonprofit organization established in 1990, conducts
ongoing public education campaigns, advises state and
local policy makers, and provides technical assistance
and professional training focused on reducing infant
death and illness and improving the health of women
and young children in North Carolina.
