FASD United is excited to spotlight each of the organizations that are part of CDC’s National Partner Network (NPN), a collaborative coalition of organizations dedicated to advancing key goals, including reducing prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and substance use, enhancing support services and access to care, and improving the identification and health of children and families affected by FASDs (CDC, 2023). As a proud participant in this collaborative effort from 2022 to 2026, we are excited to contribute to public education on FASD and prenatal substance exposure alongside these exceptional partners.  

This July, we excitedly feature the Women’s Health Nurses and Midwives Collaborate for Alcohol-Free Pregnancy (WHNMCAP), which includes the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), and the Nurse Practitioners of Women’s Health (NPWH). Three passionate women, one from each organization, contributed to discuss the partnership and importance of alcohol-free pregnancies.

The team says, “over the course of our project, we have found a way to work together that emphasizes consensus, teamwork, communication, and collaboration. We’re really proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish – we think that our structure has resulted in new ideas to reach our target audience – nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives/midwives, and all nurses who work in women’s health or primary care settings to talk more confidently and effectively with people who are or could become pregnant about their alcohol use.”

By banding together and promoting resources and information nationally, this group of organizations has made a strong impact in the United States in FASD and public health generally. “Even though the public health message that there is no safe time, no safe type, and no safe amount of alcohol to use during pregnancy has been around for several decades now, there are still a lot of mixed messages about alcohol use during pregnancy. Nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives/midwives, and nurses, as some of the most trusted healthcare providers, are ideally positioned to have open conversations with their patients so that they can make educated and informed decisions about their alcohol use based on their individual circumstances.”

These frontline workers can have honest, valuable exchanges with patients from a range of backgrounds and would like to feel the utmost confidence in addressing these complex conversations. “Although nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives/midwives, and nurses are taught during their formal education that alcohol use during pregnancy is not safe, the results from surveys that we have undertaken of the members of our partner organizations (NPWH and AWHONN) show that nurse practitioners, nurse midwives/midwives, and nurses still seek to build their confidence in asking their patients about alcohol use and having these conversations, and to use a standardized screening tool to ask about alcohol use.”

The pursuit of national confidence and coordination allows this team to move the FASD movement forward by “providing education to nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives/midwives, and nurses about FASDs in general (especially that it is more than just fetal alcohol syndrome), effective prevention strategies, (e.g., universal alcohol screening and brief intervention), and ways that all nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives/midwives, and nurses can act as champions to raise awareness among their colleagues and communities about FASDs and FASD-informed care.” If you’d like an example of this group’s resource shares, please visit this website.

As for the overall value of participating in the CDC’s National Partner Network, the group expresses, “The National Partner Network provides a wealth of experience and resources. We really value being able to call on our fellow network partners to ask if they want to collaborate on the development of materials or to ask if they have already developed something we are thinking of putting together. If you visit our website, you’ll see that we link to many of our partners’ materials or products.” The WHNMCAP believes in backing their work and claims with research too, in true CDC style: “Our team takes pride in a strong focus, dedication, and success in dissemination and implementation of evidence for practice. All of our resources exemplify providing nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives/midwives, and nurses with the best research-based evidence to implement FASD prevention strategies.”

We are so lucky to have such a dedicated, willing collaborative group through CDC’s NPN. Thank you to Alexandra, Kassandra, and Beth (and their colleagues), for this insight and consistent work.

*This project is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.