Skip Navigation LinksSkip Navigation Links
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Safer Healthier People
Blue White
Blue White
bottom curve
CDC Home Search Health Topics A-Z spacer spacer
spacer
Blue curve MMWR spacer
spacer
spacer

National Alcohol Awareness Month -- April 1995

April is National Alcohol Awareness Month. Maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy is one of the most common preventable causes of birth defects and childhood disabilities. Varying levels of fetal alcohol exposure result in a spectrum of alcohol-related disabling conditions, including fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) (with its characteristic physical features) and cognitive and behavioral problems. National health objectives for the year 2000 include reducing the incidence of FAS to no more than 0.12 cases per 1000 live births (i.e., 1.2 cases per 10,000 live births) and increasing abstinence from alcohol drinking by pregnant women by 20% (objectives 14.4 and 14.10) (1). Although adverse health effects associated with fetal exposure to alcohol are preventable, effective intervention strategies are still being developed. An important step toward developing these strategies is improving the understanding of the occurrence and epidemiology of FAS, including determination of population subgroups at increased risk for this condition. This issue of MMWR includes four articles related to maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy and its effects on exposed offspring.

Reference

  1. Public Health Service. Healthy people 2000: national health promotion and disease prevention objectives -- full report, with commentary. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 1991; DHHS publication no. (PHS)91-50212.


Disclaimer   All MMWR HTML versions of articles are electronic conversions from ASCII text into HTML. This conversion may have resulted in character translation or format errors in the HTML version. Users should not rely on this HTML document, but are referred to the electronic PDF version and/or the original MMWR paper copy for the official text, figures, and tables. An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; telephone: (202) 512-1800. Contact GPO for current prices.

**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to mmwrq@cdc.gov.

Page converted: 09/19/98

HOME  |  ABOUT MMWR  |  MMWR SEARCH  |  DOWNLOADS  |  RSSCONTACT
POLICY  |  DISCLAIMER  |  ACCESSIBILITY

Safer, Healthier People

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd, MailStop E-90, Atlanta, GA 30333, U.S.A

USA.GovDHHS

Department of Health
and Human Services

This page last reviewed 5/2/01