The Cuff Kit™ program joins 10 other programs honored for
innovation in addressing hypertension during pregnancy
WASHINGTON, May 10, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) Office on Women's Health has announced that the
Preeclampsia Foundation Cuff Kit™ program will be joining 10 other
final phase winners for the HHS Hypertension Innovator Award
Competition. The national competition was created to identify and
reward innovative programs that ensure women with hypertension
during pregnancy and/or postpartum receive appropriate monitoring
and follow-up. This competition supports the Biden-Harris
Administration's implementation of the White House Blueprint for
Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis - PDF, a
whole-of-government strategy to combat maternal mortality and
improve maternal and infant health, focusing on underserved
communities.
"Since 2020, Our Cuff Kit™ program has distributed over 30,000
high quality devices and effective patient education materials,
while working to collect the evidence base that we need to
understand if self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) should become a
standard of prenatal and postpartum care for patients," said
Preeclampsia Foundation CEO Eleni
Tsigas. "Measuring, monitoring, and managing hypertension
before, during, and after pregnancy is critical to improve maternal
and infant health outcomes. We believe SMBP can help."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in
the United States. Hypertension
affects one in every twelve to seventeen pregnancies in
the United States. Racial and
ethnic disparities involving hypertensive disorders in pregnancy
affect more than 1 in 5 delivery hospitalizations of Black women
and about 1 in 6 delivery hospitalizations of American Indian and
Alaska Native women. Factors that contribute to these disparities
include lack of access to and quality of health care, racial bias
in the health care system, and psychosocial stress from
experiencing racism. In addition, women from all ethnicities and
backgrounds face challenges, including provider delays in
diagnosing and managing severe range blood pressure, and personal
barriers such as transportation, schedules, locality (living in
rural or underserved areas), and lack of education about the
importance of good blood pressure control.
The announcement comes during May as Preeclampsia Awareness
Month, when the Preeclampsia Foundation spotlights preeclampsia as
a life-threatening pregnancy disorder of which all patients and
providers should be aware. The 2024 theme of "Predict, Prevent, and
Prevail over Preeclampsia" emphasizes the need for new and
innovative ways to predict what patients are at risk of
hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and better preventions to
improve maternal and infant health outcomes.
The HHS Hypertension Innovator Award funding will be used by the
Foundation to develop new partnerships to address research gaps and
new distribution channels, focused on underserved populations
across the United States.
"We are incredibly honored to be in this fantastic lineup of
centers who are prioritizing hypertension control through
patient-provider partnerships," added Tsigas. "We look forward to
continuing to ensure that all pregnant and postpartum patients and
their family members know the importance of blood pressure control
during pregnancy and beyond."
For more information about the Cuff Kit, please visit
www.preeclampsia.org/the-cuff-project
About the Preeclampsia Foundation
The Preeclampsia
Foundation is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
established in 2000 to improve the outcomes of hypertensive
disorders of pregnancy by educating, supporting, and engaging the
community, improving healthcare practices, and finding a cure. We
envision a world where preeclampsia and related hypertensive
disorders of pregnancy no longer threaten the lives of mothers and
babies. For more information, visit www.preeclampsia.org.
Contact:
Laney Poye
Director of Communications & Engagement
(321) 421-6957
377513@email4pr.com
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SOURCE Preeclampsia Foundation