More new mothers in the U.S. are now getting prenatal care.

A new study released by the federal government indicates that more new mothers are getting prenatal care earlier in their pregnancies. Helen Moose, instructor of family and community medicine at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield agrees with these findings. She explains some of the reasons for the improved care.

SOUND BITE: ". . . in the last three years the federally funded Kid Care program has been initiated and that has increased access to prenatal care for women who were uninsured. It provides a gap between those women who have insurance and those who have Medicaid and this has definitely made a difference so they do have coverage for their prenatal care. The other thing is there has been an increase in funding for community health clinics, which are actually located in communities both rural and urban areas . . ."

Moose says it is extremely important that women receive care early in their pregnancy to help them have a healthy pregnancy and to identify any risk factors they may have. She explains:

SOUND BITE: "If a woman is diabetic, or has hypertension, those problems can be dealt with early on, and these women can be referred to specialists as needed and hopefully have a healthier pregnancy. Also these women are usually uninsured - lower income or lower socio-economic status may not have the healthiest lifestyles or may not have seen a physician or health care provider in a while and ah this may be their first access to care in quite a while, and that also gives us a chance to identify any problems they might have that might also affect the pregnancy such as sexually transmitted diseases that can increase the risk for preterm labor and preterm delivery . . ."

Moose encourages women to eat healthy foods and to stop smoking during their pregnancy. She says even if women have no insurance, they can get information about physicians, community health clinics and nurse midwives from their local public health department.