Breaking the cycle: a community approach to prevention of low birth‐weight babies

Canada has recognized that the incidence of low birth‐weight babies poses a significant community‐wide health problem with serious societal and medical implications, both now and in the foreseeable future. The focus of this paper is on the direct relationship between low‐income women and low birth‐weight babies. Low‐income is related to low education levels and other behavioral risk factors associated with low birth‐weight babies. Much research and programming has been undertaken in the last 15 years, and some demonstrable improvements have been made. This paper suggests a community‐based approach to the development of programs that can help to make a difference to this ongoing problem.