Text4baby Johnson & Johnson is a founding partner of text4baby, an unprecedented public-private partnership designed to address the rising U.S. infant mortality rate. New mom Lorielle James received timely and expert health information via text message while pregnant with Jah Tae, now 3 months old. She’ll continue to get such messages through his first year. Read more under Advancing Health Literacy on this page or visit jnj.com for Lorielle’s story.
Social Performance (cont.)
PATIENT SAFETY AND EDUCATION
Patient safety is our top priority, from selection of our ingredients through sourcing of those ingredients to the manufacturing of our products. But patient safety goes beyond the development and manufacturing of our products; it’s also about the proper use of our products and the education of our patients.
Advancing Health Literacy
Health literacy is defined by the Institute of Medicine and National Library of Medicine as the “degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.” Health literacy helps to address issues of ethics and equity related to medical access. We believe a health-literate society could positively impact cancer incidence, mortality, quality of life, diabetes and its complications, lifestyle illnesses and hypertension management with better prevention, diagnosis, intervention and cures.
Text4baby and Safe Kids Worldwide are examples of the health literacy programs we support.
- text4baby As the founding sponsor, Johnson & Johnson partnered with Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies; Voxiva; and the international association for the wireless telecommunication industry (CTIA) to create text4baby, a free mobile informa-tion service designed to reduce infant mortality and promote healthy birth outcomes among underserved populations.
The U.S. has the third highest infant mortality rate among developed nations. Much is known about the behaviors and conditions that can improve a baby’s chances of being born healthy and thriving, but this solid science is not getting into the hands of those who need it most. Women who sign up for text4baby receive three free text messages a week—timed to their due date or baby’s date of birth—on topics such as preventing birth defects, immunization, nutrition, seasonal flu, mental health, oral health and safe sleep.
Text4baby messages also connect women to health care services and resources in their communities. The messages are based on research compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and represent the most critical health information that pregnant women need at various points in each trimester. Mothers in a number of communities affected by infant mortality are involved in the process. BabyCenter®, LLC, a member of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, provides additional support and research.
- Safe Kids Worldwide Safe Kids Worldwide combines several approaches to create programs that reduce injuries such as concussions. Given the rising number of injuries from youth sports in the U.S., Safe Kids recently formed a coalition to provide more extensive public education to parents and children. Johnson & Johnson and its affiliate DePuy Mitek sponsor this work. (See Engaging in Shared Interests)