Overview of the California Premature Infant Health Coalition

California has more than 56,000 premature births each year, which is 10.7% of all California births, much higher than the national Healthy People 2010 goal of 7.6% of all births. More than 10% of all premature births in the United States happen here in California. Every five years more than a quarter of a million premature children are added to our state’s population. A great percentage of these children have serious health and development conditions requiring far more than the average health, developmental and social service care to help them have the optimal outcome for their lives.

The California Premature Infant Health Coalition was created to bring together the broad array of groups and individuals working on prematurity in California. The California Premature Infant Health Coalition is organized to include individuals and organizations representing five issue categories: preconception, prevention/prenatal care, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) hospital, discharge/transitioning out of the hospital, and long term care.