Premature birth is the leading killer of newborns in the United States.
To raise money to support programs in the community that help moms have healthy, full-term pregnancies, the March of Dimes held its annual March for Babies walk Saturday in McMinnville. The one-mile walk began at Riverfront Park and was held along the greenway.
More than 500,000 babies are born too soon each year, according to the March of Dimes.
Elliott Witt Curtis was this year’s local March of Dimes ambassador.
Elliott was born Aug. 30, 2013 at 32 weeks by emergency C-section due to complications caused by preeclampsia. He weighed 4.5 pounds, was 17.75 inches in length, and is the son of Trent and Tessa Curtis.
Through the Prematurity Campaign, the March of Dimes wants to raise public awareness of the problems of prematurity and decrease the rate of preterm birth in the United States and throughout the world.
Since the walk started in 1970, more than $2 billion has been raised to benefit all babies.
Tennessee currently rates a “C,” the national average, on the Premature Birth Report Cards, with a 12.5 percent premature birth rate. The March of Dimes wants to reduce the nation’s preterm birth rate to 9.6 percent or less by 2020.
For more information, visit www.marchofdimes.org.