Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)

The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is a surveillance project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with numerous state and local health departments that was initiated in 1987 because infant mortality rates were no longer declining as rapidly as they had in prior years. PRAMS allows states to collect data on maternal attitudes and experiences before, during and after pregnancy. The states use PRAMS data to inform maternal and child health programs by monitoring health behaviors, access to care, and receipt of services. More information on PRAMS can be found at: www.cdc.gov/prams. This FOA solicits applications to support state public health agencies to: 1) establish or maintain surveillance of selected maternal behaviors and experiences that occur prior to, during, and after pregnancy in 50 states; 2) provide a high quality data source for ongoing monitoring of risk factors for maternal and infant health; 3) use PRAMS methods and survey supplements to address emerging issues that may arise during the data collection cycle including the response to post-disaster or pandemic surveillance needs; and 4) ensure data collection results are available to inform state and national program and policies, facilitate partnerships, and demonstrate the utility of PRAMS as a data source for state and national surveillance. Throughout this document the terms “state” or "site" apply to any local, state, territory, or tribe that meets the eligibility requirements. The activities in the FOA will be conducted under 4 separate components of funding: 1) Component A: Core Surveillance to implement the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) surveillance on selected maternal behaviors and experiences that occur prior to, during, and shortly after pregnancy in 50 states by establishing new sites and maintaining existing sites, and to use PRAMS methods and survey supplements to monitor emerging issues that may arise during the data collection cycle including the response to post-disaster or pandemic surveillance needs. 2) Component B: Point-in-time Surveillance to establish a point-in-time (e.g. one time, one birth year) surveillance on selected maternal behaviors and experiences that occur prior to, during, and after pregnancy and early infancy for entities with a small birth population (<20,000 annually), a lack of electronic birth records, or inadequate resources to maintain ongoing surveillance. 3) Component C: Stillbirth Surveillance Pilot to expand Core PRAMS methods and sampling to include women who experienced a stillbirth and provide essential data for monitoring stillbirth and related factors such as prenatal, obstetric and postpartum health care. The information collected can fill data gaps and inform efforts to prevent the occurrence of stillbirth and improve care and support to those who experiencing this unfortunate pregnancy outcome. 4) Component D: Family history of breast and ovarian cancer survey to expand Core PRAMS methods and sampling to collect data on family history of breast and ovarian cancer in women who recently delivered a live birth, adding valuable information to the current surveillance, medical evaluation, and cancer prevention efforts focused on identifying populations at risk, including women of reproductive age.