March of Dimes strives to help moms have full-term, healthy babies and research the problems that threaten those babies. Monday, November 17th is World Prematurity Day and you are asked to wear purple to show your support.

Here are a few statistics to help you understand why we need more awareness funding and research into premature births. The US has one of the highest preterm birth rates of any high resource country.  In 2013 more than 450,000 babies were born prematurely. The good news is that this is the lowest rate in the last 17 years at 11.4 %  beating a goal that was set for 2020.

However, great it is that we beat that goal 7 years early there is still much more work to be done. The March of Dimes has a new goal of lowering that preterm birth rate to 5.5% by 2030. With your help that goal can be met if not exceeded. The first step to seeing that goal come true is to bring awareness and you can help by 'Going Purple for Preemies' on Monday, November 17th.

You can join March of Dimes community partners; Wylie Schools, Abilene Teachers Federal Credit Union and Abilene Regional Medical Center by wearing purple in support of World Prematurity Day. You can pass the word to friends, family and co-workers to join you in your support of finding ways to reduce premature births.

Find Out More About the March of Dimes Mission Here

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