SFDPH Goes Folic For National Folic Acid Awareness Week

Jan. 5, 2011 - PRLog -- SFDPH GOES FOLIC FOR NATIONAL FOLIC ACID AWARENESS WEEK

Innovative Health Program Addresses Important Nutritional Deficiency in Women

SAN FRANCISCO—This week, January 2-8, is National Folic Acid Awareness Week.  In observance, the Go Folic! Women’s Nutrition Project will be conducting outreach and disseminating educational materials, promotional items and sample bottles of Go Folic Multi-vitamins on Saturday, January 8th to women at the Alemany and Fillmore Farmers Markets.
Folic acid is a B vitamin that is important to the health of women. According to Healthy People 2020, one of their major objectives is to the amount of American women who get at least 400 mc of folic acid each day from fortified foods or supplements to 26.2%. Data informs us that currently, only 23.8% of women get the recommended amount of folic acid.  

Shivaun Nestor, Go Folic! Project Coordinator says, “Since 50% of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made folic acid supplementation a top priority among women of reproductive age.  When women take folic acid daily for at least three months before they conceive, they reduce their risk for having a baby with a neural tube defect by up to 70%.  They may also reduce their risk for pre-term labor, which is a serious health concern in San Francisco.”

Mei Lin Huang, Go Folic! Outreach Specialist, adds that, “While many women know about the pregnancy benefits, they don’t realize that taking a daily multi-vitamin with folic acid may support heart health and reduce the risk for certain cancers.  Also, a new study indicates that folic acid may be important for adolescent women; infants of adult mothers who got adequate folic acid in their teens had better birth outcomes than those whose mothers didn’t receive enough.”

According to Michael Baxter, Director of the Department of Public Health (DPH) Community Health Programs for Youth and the department’s Family Planning and Preconception Health Program, “Vitamins are expensive and many women will forgo supplements in order to take care of other family needs. By providing clients of Healthy San Francisco, other DPH clinics and the Community Clinic Consortium with a free year’s supply of multi-vitamins, Go Folic! encourages San Francisco women to get adequate folic acid that’s affordable and convenient.” We are pleased to participate with the Go Folic! Women’s Nutrition Project,” declares Dr. David Lown, Medical Director for the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium. He adds, “This prevention works well and Go Folic! delivers multi-vitamins directly to those who can benefit.”

“Folic acid can improve the health of one’s hair, nails and skin, which is a point of interest for young women,” says Cristina Ibarra, Viral Marketing Campaign Coordinator with Go Folic! In addition to intense community outreach efforts, Go Folic! has a robust social media platform and web presence designed to attract the youth audience.  The project regularly posts health and nutrition updates to targeted communities on Facebook and Twitter, while maintaining a popular blog with diverse, relevant, up to date content.  This year, Go Folic! is expanding to YouTube with innovative public service announcements and related videos.

For more information about the Go Folic! Women’s Nutrition Project, please contact Shivaun Nestor at 415.575.5677 or via email at Shivaun.Nestor@sfdph.org. To schedule an interview with the Go Folic! Campaign staff please contact Mikael Wagner at 415.255.0800 or via email at bmikael@promotionswest.com.


The Go Folic! Women’s Nutrition Project is dedicated to improving the health of San Francisco women through vitamin distribution and education. The SFDPH Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Section’s mission is to promote the health and well being of women of childbearing age, infants, children and adolescents who are at increased risk of adverse health outcomes by virtue of financial, language or cultural barriers. The Go Folic! Project is made possible by a grant from the Vitamin Cases Consumer Settlement Fund. Created as a result of an antitrust class action, one of the purposes of the Fund is to improve the health and nutrition of California consumers.