Kansas PRAMS: Component A (Core Surveillance) Project Summary/Abstract The Kansas Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is a collaborative project with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to establish a state-specific, population-based, surveillance system of maternal health, behaviors, and experiences during preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum. Kansas PRAMS provides data to inform a variety of maternal and child health issues. Two major goals of Kansas PRAMS are to reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality, and reduce low birth weight. Specific objectives of the Kansas PRAMS study include: 1. To implement population-based surveillance within Kansas on selected maternal behaviors and experiences that occur prior to, during, and shortly after pregnancy among women with a recent live birth, including emerging issues and post-disaster surveillance needs, as they arise. 2. To ensure data is of high scientific quality and comparable to other jurisdictions by following the methodology documented in the CDC PRAMS protocol. 3. To conduct comprehensive analyses of PRAMS data based on a written state-specific analysis plan designed to inform programmatic activities, research, and public health practice. 4. To translate and disseminate analytic results into useable information for public health action that can guide program development and evaluation, in collaboration with a state- level steering committee. PRAMS contacts new mothers two to three months after delivering a live birth. The sample is drawn from the Kansas birth certificate file. Mothers from this sample are mailed a survey questionnaire. If mothers do not respond by mail, phone interviewers attempt to interview them by phone. Incentives and rewards are used in an effort to maximize participation in the study. Kansas PRAMS will provide quality, statewide, population-based surveillance data to inform the Kansas Title V Maternal and Child Health Priorities for the next five years. The data will further the Kansas Department of Health and Environment's mission to “protect and improve the health and environment of all Kansans.”