Show Your Love App Provides Essential Health Information to Women before Pregnancy

Collaboration with Anthem, Inc. creates first of its kind resource right at your fingertips

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Feb 14, 2017, 10:00 ET

ATLANTA, Feb. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Despite important advances in medicine and prenatal care in recent years, birth outcomes are worse in the United States than in many developed countries. Many babies are born early or have low birthweight. Each year, about 1 in every 33 babies born in the United States is affected by a birth defect, a leading cause of death in the first year of life according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To address this problem, the CDC Foundation today announced a new preconception health app that will help women of reproductive age explore how to protect their health and the health of babies they may give birth to in the future.

The Show Your Love app, funded through a CDC Foundation collaboration with Anthem, Inc., is part of CDC's Show Your Love Campaign. The campaign's main goal is to increase the number of women who plan their pregnancies and engage in healthy behaviors before becoming pregnant and to reduce the number of birth defects. The campaign's message is that if a woman chooses to have a child, she can show love for her child by taking important steps to live healthy well before becoming pregnant.

"Many women have questions about how to plan for pregnancy. The new Show Your Love app fills the knowledge gap empowering women with tools and resources to protect their health and the health of their future family," said Judith Monroe, M.D., FAAFP, CDC Foundation president and CEO. "We are grateful to Anthem for their support in making this app available to women around the country."

Show Your Love emphasizes preconception health, described by CDC as the health of women and men during their reproductive years. Preconception health focuses on women taking important steps now to protect their health and the health of the family they may want to have in the future. These steps include working with their doctors to control and treat medical conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure, quitting smoking, becoming physically active and making healthy food choices.

The app helps women who wish to become pregnant plan their pregnancy and chart their course, offering features to help maintain a healthy lifestyle including:

Assessment on behaviors including healthy eating, exercise and tobacco cessation.
Supportive messaging sent to users' phones.
Daily tracking of behaviors.
Educational resources and tools on healthy behaviors.
Helpful reminders including doctors' appointments, ovulation cycles and medication schedules.

"We know that delivering a healthy baby starts with a healthy mother-to-be," said Craig Samitt, M.D., chief clinical officer for Anthem, Inc. "We're excited to team with the CDC Foundation on the development of this groundbreaking app that can help women get healthy before they decide to become pregnant and, in doing so, help reduce the number of babies born too early or with low birth weight."

The Show Your Love app is available for free on the iTunes and Google Play store.

About the CDC Foundation
The CDC Foundation advances the mission of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through effective philanthropy and public-private partnerships that protect the health, safety and security of America and the world. Established by Congress more than two decades ago, the CDC Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization that has launched nearly 900 programs and raised more than $662 million through partnerships with philanthropies, corporations, organizations and individuals. The CDC Foundation currently manages more than 300 CDC-led programs in the United States and in 85 countries. For more information, please visit www.cdcfoundation.org.

About Anthem, Inc.
Anthem is working to transform health care with trusted and caring solutions. Our health plan companies deliver quality products and services that give their members access to the care they need. With over 73 million people served by its affiliated companies, including approximately 40 million within its family of health plans, Anthem is one of the nation's leading health benefits companies. For more information about Anthem's family of companies, please visit www.antheminc.com/companies.

SOURCE CDC Foundation