The award, presented at ACOG's 48th Annual Clinical Meeting, recognizes the most outstanding ACOG section activity and has been presented annually since 1971. Elizabeth Y. McCrann, MD, project director and immediate past president of the Colorado Gynecological and Obstetrical Society, accepted the award. The Colorado Preterm Birth Prevention Project 1999, the first-ever of its type in the state, is a health education effort aimed at women and their health care providers. ACOG's Colorado Section Fellows developed the project in response to the high rate of preterm birth. Its goal is to reduce Colorado's number of premature births and thereby lessen the number of infant deaths and low-birthweight babies.
Prematurity is also a major cause of infant mortality.
Reducing prematurity is a major step in reducing the emotional and medical consequences to families.