A Full-term Baby is a Stronger Baby

Meet GianCarlo in this new campaign from Serve Marketing and the City of Milwaukee Health Department. They are joining in on the excitement of the 2012 Summer Olympics to promote the benefits of full-term babies, and are encouraging expecting mothers to wait until at least 39 weeks before inducing labor.
GianCarlo will be featured on billboards and bus shelters across the city of Milwaukee USA.

Babies born prematurely face a higher risk of health problems, including breathing and feeding problems, as well as developmental delays. Complications caused by prematurity are the leading cause of infant deaths in Milwaukee and the United States.

Health Commissioner Bevan K. Baker: “Those babies who stay inside their mothers until 39 weeks of pregnancy are off to a better start in life than those who are born early. While we understand that sometimes there are unavoidable circumstances that lead to the early birth of a baby, we want to educate mothers on ways to protect and extend their pregnancies until at least 39 weeks.”

The on-going campaign is part of the city’s initiative to reduce the overall infant mortality rate (IMR) by at least 10% by 2017, while simultaneously reducing infant mortality among African- Americans by at least 15%. For every 1,000 births, more than 10 infants died before their first birthday. Within these statistics, there is also a startling racial disparity. African American infants are 2.6 times more likely to die than Caucasian infants.

Related City of Milwaukee Health Department posts:
- In bed you can be a butcher knife
- Babies who sleep here don’t always wake up

Comments

This is kind of a weird one. Are Milwaukee women choosing to birth prematurely? When you go to the web site, it eventually talks about healthy prenatal care, but I’m not sure that’s what the ad is communicating.