Home > VA Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)
VA Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)
What is PRAMS?
PRAMS stands for Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, which is a survey of mothers who have recently had a baby.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) started PRAMS in 1987 to help reduce infant mortality and morbidity, in the United States.
PRAMS provides information about a woman’s experiences before, during and just after a pregnancy that resulted in a live birth. This type of information is important for planning and evaluating programs and services for mothers and infants in each PRAMS state. The ultimate goal of PRAMS is to improve the health of mothers and infants. Virginia became a PRAMS state in 2006.
How Are PRAMS Data Used?
Many of Virginia’s health programs for mothers and infants are supported by federal dollars such as the Maternal Child Health (MCH) Block Grant. PRAMS provides the Virginia Department of Health information about mothers and infants that can show whether the types of programs offered by the state for mothers and infants are effective, or how they can be improved. Specifically PRAMS will assist the state to:
Identify mothers & infants at risk for health problems.
Identify probable causes associated with health problems.
Stimulate maternal child health research.
Share information and ideas to improve the health of Virginia’s mothers and infants.
