The Better Babies Project is a three-year research and demonstration effort to reduce the rate of low birth weight and associated infant mortality and illness in a specific high risk area of the District of Columbia. The Project will attempt to identify all pregnant women in a high risk area, help link them with existing medical, social, and health services, facilitate their use of these services, and provide health education and social services. The BBP Service Delivery team began collecting data July, 1984, for the project's mini pilot. As a reult of the mini pilot findings a number of revisions have been made in the forms and interventions. These revised forms and interventions are presently being developed and piloted. Evaluation of the project will be provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Epidemiology and Biometry Research Program (EBRP). NICHD has let out two contracts for the Better Babies Project to assist with the evaluation. The D.C. Department of Human Services, Research and Statistics Division, through a contract with NICHD, will be providing us information on all pregnant women delivering in the District of Columbia during the period of the project. Levin and Associates in Rockville, Maryland, under contract, is providing both data support and manipulation in the evaluation of the impact of the BBP.
