Safer pregnancy awareness campaign

17 Oct 2016 10:30 AM

The "Our Chance" campaign aims to maximise women's chances of having safer pregnancies.

Our Chance has been developed with charities Best Beginnings and Sands to give parents the knowledge and confidence to maximise their chances of healthy outcomes for themselves and their babies.

With timely diagnosis, most conditions can be well-managed to reduce the risks of stillbirth, neonatal death and maternal death.

Women and their families will be able to learn about how to look after themselves and their baby through support available at ourchance.org.uk and through the Best Beginnings Baby Buddy app.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:

The loss of any baby or new mum is a tragedy. We want any NHS hospital to be one of the safest places in the world to have a baby. By making sure women are aware of the small changes they can make or the signs to look out for, they can increase their chances of a healthy pregnancy.

The new campaign is a game-changing moment and will help us halve the rates of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths and brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth by 2030

Alison Baum, CEO at Best Beginnings said:

We are so proud to be jointly leading the ground-breaking Our Chance initiative with Sands and thanks to support from the Department of Health, NHS England and Public Health England. We’d like to thank all the parents, charities and health professionals who helped create the Our Chance films and are now supporting the campaign.

I set up Best Beginnings to reduce child health inequalities across the UK. Best Beginnings created our free Department of Health-endorsed Baby Buddy app to enable parents of all ages and backgrounds to look after their own mental and physical health and to maximise the chances of their children having a healthy and happy start.

The campaign includes 25 short films, featuring real-life stories from parents, healthcare professionals and Our Chance supporter Abbey Clancy. The films were developed in collaboration with royal colleges, other health charities and parents.

They films cover a range of maternity issues, including:

• attending antenatal appointments
• the importance of mental health and seeking help early
• not smoking or drinking alcohol during pregnancy
• being aware of symptoms such as itching or swelling which might point to potentially harmful conditions such as pre-eclampsia or intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy
• being aware of reduced foetal movement

Clea Harmer, Chief Executive at Sands said:

We are delighted to be jointly leading this ground-breaking project, which is the culmination of many years of work with the Department of Health. We’re particularly excited about reaching younger people, to help them have a safer pregnancy whether they are planning on having a family now or in the future.

Find out more by visiting ourchance.org.uk.