For the first time in eight years, preterm birth rates worsened in the U.S. If the preterm birth rates hadn’t increased approximately 2,000 fewer babies would have been born preterm. The 2016 March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card also reveals a problem: babies in this country have different chances of surviving and thriving simply based on the circumstances of where they were born.

The March of Dimes believes every baby born should have a fair chance, yet this is not the reality. This year’s report card reveals that preterm birth rates actually worsened among specific geographic areas and racial/ethnic groups. And, geographically, while rates improved in four states, they worsened in seven states – of which three received the worst grade of F due to their higher rates. And, looking at racial disparities nationally, preterm birth rates were higher in non-white ethnicities.

Once again the U.S. received a “C” grade on the 2016 Premature Birth Report Card because of our sudden step back in progress. America is falling short of the March of Dimes goal to lower the preterm birth rate to 8.1 by 2020 – because the issue of preterm birth has become too commonplace and too accepted in all of our communities. Americans lead the world in medical research and care, yet the U.S. preterm birth rate still ranks among the worst of high resource nations.

The March of Dimes believes we can do better as a nation if we address prematurity and take steps to improve the unfair toll on mothers and babies through broader awareness and growing intervention programs nationally, ultimately reducing the more than $26 billion annually in avoidable medical and societal costs.

The March of Dimes is funding research to identify new medical advances to prevent preterm birth and has invested in a nationwide network of five cutting-edge, team-based research centers seeking to find the unknown causes of preterm birth and ways to prevent it. has pioneered eight interventions that when implemented more broadly in our most challenged communities have the ability to raise the bar for everyone and help us reach our goal of an 8.1 percent preterm birth rate by 2020.

During the tour, your state’s and county’s preterm birth rate and its grade (A through F) on the new Premature Birth Report Card will be revealed as well as how the country is doing as a whole – where we are doing well and where we are lacking as well as well as how the March of Dimes helps consumers, doctors, hospitals, and health policy experts with a variety of successful strategies to prevent preterm birth.

The 2016 Report Card information for states and counties will be available online at: marchofdimes.org/reportcard.

INTERVIEW WITH: Edward R.B. McCabe, M.D., Ph.D. is the senior vice president and chief medical officer for the March of Dimes Foundation. He is a national leader on child health and science. He is a pediatrician and geneticist, who is a faculty member at the University of Colorado, and a former faculty member at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and UCLA, where he led the Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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