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Perinatal Program

The State Perinatal Program identifies and recommends strategies that will effectively decrease infant morbidity and mortality. The Program encourages cooperative relationships among healthcare providers and institutions to ensure medically effective and cost-efficient perinatal care and to raise awareness regarding infant morbidity and mortality. Learn more about our program by reading the Program Overview below.

What's New?

March Educational Moment: Smoking and Pregnancy

Smoking While Pregnant (CDC)The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recently reaffirmed their statement Tobacco and Nicotine Cessation During Pregnancy, which reads in part:


"Children born to women who smoke during pregnancy are at an increased risk of respiratory infections, asthma, infantile colic, bone fractures, and childhood obesity. Pregnancy influences many women to stop smoking, and approximately 54% of women who smoke before pregnancy quit smoking directly before or during pregnancy. Smoking cessation at any point in gestation benefits the pregnant woman and her fetus."

Australia's Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District produced the following videos in their "No Butts Baby" series addressing the dangers of smoking and pregnancy.

For more information, visit Smoking During Pregnancy at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which covers the effects of smoking and secondhand smoke on pregnant women, unborn babies, and infants.

Program Overview

To confront the state's high infant mortality rate, a group of physicians, other health providers, and interested citizens came together and became the impetus behind the passage of the Alabama Perinatal Health Act in 1980. This statute established the State Perinatal Program and the mechanism for its operation under the direction of the State Board of Health.

The State Perinatal Program is based on a concept of regionalization of care, a systems approach in which program components in a geographic area are defined and coordinated to ensure that pregnant women and their infants have access to appropriate care. The state's regional perinatal health care system is composed of five regions. The availability of neonatal intensive care (NICU) directs the organization of the regionalized care system.

Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR)

The Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Program was established to identify critical community strengths and weaknesses as well as unique health and social issues associated with poor outcomes of pregnancy. The Program is a community-based statewide initiative designed to enhance the health and well-being of women, infants, and families through the review of unidentified individual cases of fetal (stillbirth) and infant deaths and voluntary maternal interviews. Visit FIMR for more information.

STDs and Pregnancy

If you're pregnant and you have a sexually transmitted disease, you may pass the infection to your baby. Every woman who is pregnant should be checked for some STDs during her first prenatal visit. Download the "STDs and Pregnancy" brochure for more information.

Pre-Pregnancy and Prenatal Care  

Pre-Pregnancy and prenatal care can help prevent complications and inform women about important steps they can take to protect their infant and ensure a healthy pregnancy. With regular prenatal care, women can reduce the risk of pregnancy complications. For more information, read Prenatal Care Checkups from the March of Dimes. 





Page last updated: March 5, 2024