Table 1.

Key Recommendations to Improve Preconception Health

Area of focus	Recommendation
Individual responsibility throughout life	Encourage each woman and every couple to have a reproductive life plan
Consumer awareness	Increase public awareness of the importance of preconception health behaviors and increase individuals’ use of preconception care services with information and tools appropriate for various age, literacy, health literacy, and cultural or linguistic contexts
Preventive visits	As a part of primary care visits, provide risk assessment and counseling (education and health promotion) to all women of childbearing age to reduce risks related to the outcomes of pregnancy
Interventions for identified risks	Increase the proportion of women who receive interventions as a follow-up to preconception risk screening, focusing on high-priority interventions (i.e., those with high impact and sufficient evidence of effectiveness)
Interconception care	Use the interconception period to provide intensive interventions to women who have had a prior pregnancy end in an adverse outcome (e.g., infant death, low-birth-weight child, or preterm birth)
Prepregnancy check-ups	Offer, as a component of maternity care, one prepregnancy visit for couples planning pregnancy
Health coverage for low-income women	Increase Medicaid coverage among low-income women to improve access to preventive health, preconception, and interconception care
Public health programs and strategies	Infuse and integrate components of preconception health care into existing local public health and related programs, including emphasis on women with prior adverse pregnancy outcomes
Research	Augment knowledge related to preconception health
Monitoring improvements	Maximize public health surveillance and related search mechanisms to monitor preconception health

Modified from Dunlop AL, Jack B, Frey K. National recommendations for preconception care: the essential role of the family physician. J Am Board Fam Med. 2007;20:81–4. Used with permission