National Birth Defects Prevention Month

January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month! Join in the nationwide effort to raise awareness of birth defects, their causes, and their impact!

Each January the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) raises awareness among women and families on actions they can take to help have a healthy baby. January is also a time to recognize people living with birth defects. Thanks to ongoing medical advances, children born with birth defects are living longer. These children and their families still need help. They often need specialized treatment, continued care, and strong social support to improve their overall quality of life.

What can you do? Help spread the word!

Thunderclap

Join the #Prevent2Protect Thunderclap to raise awareness of National Birth Defects Prevention Month. Thunderclap is a social media tool that allows supporters to sign up in advance to share a unified message at a specific time through their individual Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr account. The collective action creates a wave of support – or “thunderclap” – across social media. Our Thunderclap will go live on January 18, 2017 at Noon ET. This unified message encourages people to join the effort to raise awareness about birth defects and make a difference. Sign up here.

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#1in33 This is Me

Have birth defects affected your life? Are you living with a heart defect? Are you the parent or sibling of a person living with spina bifida? Did your best friend or favorite aunt have a cleft lip or palate? Share your story! Create an original picture or a video about your story and post on social media tagged with #1in33.

Even if you do not have a story to share, check out our family stories here and across social media to read about how birth defects affect people’s lives. Take a moment to learn more about how you can support a child or family living with a birth defect in your community.

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#Prevent2Protect

Making healthy choices and adopting healthy habits are important for your own health, but also for the health of the children you may have one day. Not all birth defects can be prevented, but there are steps people can take to help have a healthy pregnancy. This month and throughout the year, we encourage you to prevent infections that could hurt you and your developing baby.

Tell us how you plan to prevent infections during pregnancy. Encourage others to prevent infections too! Celebrate those who motivate you, and inspire others to get healthy before and during pregnancy. Here are some ideas:

• Create an original picture or a video and post on social media tagged with #Prevent2Protect
• Ask your friends and followers to help raise awareness by sharing how they are preventing infections in their own #Prevent2Protect picture or video

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