In a previous post, I discussed the issue of premature births in the U.S. and explained how that is still a huge problem: One out of eight babies is born prematurely, which amounts to about 540,000 preterm births each year. Preterm birth is the leading cause of death for newborns, and is a major reason why the U.S. lags other industrialized nations in life expectancy.

A new service launched by the White House last week hopes to address that problem. The service, “Text4baby,” is a free mobile information application that sends at least three text messages per week to pregnant and new mothers via their cell phones to give them tips about prenatal health, nutrition, immunization and other reminders to keep themselves and their newborns healthy.

Expectant or new moms can register online or from their cell phones by texting the word BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to 511411. Then they are asked to enter their baby’s due date or baby’s birthday. Once registered, they start receiving free messages with tips for their pregnancy or for caring for their baby. These messages are timed to the mom’s due date or the baby’s birth date, so they are appropriate for each stage of pregnancy or of the baby’s first year. Since about 90% of U.S. residents have mobile phones, and texting is prevalent among women of childbearing age and minority populations that have higher infant-mortality rates, the campaign has the potential to reach a lot of mothers.

The program was started by the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB), with a broad, public-private partnership that includes government, corporations, academic institutions, professional associations, tribal agencies and non-profit organizations. In addition to HMHB, other private partners include Voxiva, CTIA-The Wireless Foundation, WPP, Johnson & Johnson, WellPoint, Pfizer and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. Partners from the public sector include the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense Military Health System. The three major wireless carriers, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, have all agreed to waive fees for receiving the texts.

According to U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, “Text4baby is the first free mobile health service to be taken to scale in the United States. We know that mobile phones hold tremendous potential to inform and empower individuals,... Text4baby represents an extraordinary opportunity to expand the way we use our phones, to demonstrate the potential of mobile health technology, and make a real difference for moms and babies across the country.”