Campaign promotes healthier pregnancies for Utah women

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Department of Health is launching the "Power Your Life, Power Your Health," campaign to promote healthy, pre-pregnancy lifestyles among young women.

Up to 10,000 18- to 25-year-old women will receive free multivitamins with folic acid to help ensure they're leading healthy lives when they give birth.

However, the women don't need to be pregnant to get the vitamins, according to the program's lead organizer.

"The message of the campaign is simple," said Lois Bloebaum, manager of the UDOH Maternal and Infant Health Program. "Women need to be healthy themselves before they get pregnant, and they need to do everything they can to stay healthy to help make sure their babies are too."

Bloebaum said UDOH staff will also talk directly with women at a series of community events around the state this summer, focusing their outreach largely on low-income and minority Utahns who struggle with more premature births and babies with lower birth weights than the general population.

Bloebaum said the key points of living a healthy lifestyle before pregnancy include proper nutrition and exercise and avoidance of substances such as drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

She added that women also need to understand that the decisions they make as they enter adulthood will affect the rest of their lives, whether they choose to have children or not.

A recent study shows that just two of five Utah women of childbearing age take daily vitamin supplements with folic acid, and only one in 10 understand how important it is to their health and their unborn child's development.

"There is very strong evidence to indicate that taking (multivitamins with 400 mg of folic acid) are responsible for decreasing the rate of certain birth defects," she said.

The rate of Utah babies born with certain birth defects such as spina bifida and cleft palate that could be prevented by folic acid rose more than 50 percent between 1999 and 2008, she said.

"These birth defects can be fatal, and they develop in a fetus just weeks after conception," Bloebaum said. "Most mothers don't even know they're pregnant at that time. That's why we want young women to take the vitamins."

The Power Your Life team will distribute educational materials at the following events:

Juneteenth 2010 – Ogden, June 18-20

Heber Valley Powwow – Midway, June 18-20

CARE Fair Junior League – SLC, July 9-10

Samoan Cultural Celebration – West Valley City, July 14-17

Native American Festival – SLC, July 24

Visit www.poweryourlife.org or call 801-538-6792 for more information.

e-mail: jlee@desnews.com