News & Updates

This month’s NICHD Research Perspectives features the report America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-being. Each year, 22 federal agencies collaborate to produce the report, a convenient reference for policymakers, the public, and anyone with in an interest in the nation’s children. It compiles key data about child and adolescent well-being in a variety of areas.

Children age 17 and under account for almost one quarter of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Because they make up such a large and important group in this country, and because their current health and well-being has implications for the nation’s future, a national priority is to monitor, protect, and improve children’s health and well-being.

The number of children living in the United States declined slightly, as did the percentage of the U.S. population who are children, according to the federal government’s annual statistical report on the well-being of the nation’s children and youth.

HAP from smoky, inefficient stoves, cook fires, and fuels is a leading cause of death and disability around the world. Unsafe stoves not only cause severe pneumonia in children, and cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer in adults, but they also put women and children at risk for severe burns and scalds.

text4baby the free service that texts important health information to expectant and new moms, will now offer messages for dads, too!

In a recent blog post in The Huffington Post, Dr. Guttmacher describes his experience of becoming a new grandfather within the context of his training as a pediatrician.

Pregnant mothers’ exposure to the flu was associated with a nearly fourfold increased risk that their child would develop bipolar disorder in adulthood, in a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings add to mounting evidence of possible shared underlying causes and illness processes with schizophrenia, which some studies have also linked to prenatal exposure to influenza.

NICHD's National Child and Maternal Health Education Program (NCMHEP) is working with its Coordinating Committee member organizations to promote a set of three patient-focused videos.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have uncovered firm evidence for what many mothers have long suspected: women’s brains appear to be hard-wired to respond to the cries of a hungry infant.

In the April NICHD Research Perspectives, NICHD director Dr. Alan E. Guttmacher talks with researchers about recognizing the forerunners of shaken baby syndrome and other forms of infant abuse, and how episodes of such abuse can be prevented.

The Division’s 2012 Annual Report highlights the extensive and comprehensive work of DESPR investigators and researchers.

Once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves a drug, physicians can use their best judgment to prescribe it to their patients—whether or not their patients are similar to those who took part in the clinical trials. Physicians can also prescribe drugs for diseases or conditions other than those for which they were originally tested.

text4baby External Web Site Policy is a free service that delivers important health information about the stages of pregnancy and baby’s first year to the cell phones and mobile devices of moms-to-be and new moms. Since its launch in February 2010, the program has sent more than 62 million messages. With more than 500,000 subscribers, text4baby is the largest “app” of its kind.

An independent panel convened this week by the National Institutes of Health has concluded that despite potential advantages of adopting a new diagnostic approach for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), more evidence is needed to ensure that the benefits outweigh the harms. The panel recommended following the current diagnostic approach until further studies are conducted.

The NICHD partnered with the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) to create the Milk Matters with Buddy Brush Coloring Book to teach children the ages of 4 and 8 about the importance of brushing and flossing, calcium, and regular dental care for health teeth and gums.

On December 5, 2012, the NICHD released the Scientific Vision: The Next Decade, the culmination of a collaborative process that began in 2011 to identify the most promising scientific opportunities for the Institute and the research community to pursue over the next decade. The Vision statement was made available during the NICHD’s 50th anniversary colloquium.

The November 2012 NICHD Director’s podcast is now online. This month’s podcast featured presenters from a recent NICHD Exchange program, “Sleep: the ABC’s of Zs.” The NICHD Exchange is a series of quarterly meetings in which NICHD administrators and scientists present relevant findings designed to spur thought provoking conversations to inform the NICHD research effort.

​Alan Guttmacher, M.D., Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) announced a number of changes to streamline the institute’s organizational structure and accelerate the exchange of scientific ideas.

A document charting a research course for the many collaborators who share an interest in promoting the science concerning human development through the life span, child health, women's health, and rehabilitation research is now available online.

As the Institute marks its golden anniversary, we look back on the NICHD's early years, its scientific accomplishments, and its future.