Tommys In Yorkshire

We believe every baby deserves the best start in life. We are committed to funding medical research and providing pregnancy information to help more mums and dads through a healthy pregnancy and birth.

• One in five pregnancies ends in miscarriage

• Over 100,000 women lose their babies each year and the cause is often unknown. This high rate has remained the same since the 1930s.

• One in 182 babies is stillborn

• Although this rate is falling there is still no clear medical reason given for over half of all stillbirths occurring in the UK.

• 140 babies are born too small or too soon in the UK each day

• One in ten of these babies will die or develop serious permanent disabilities.

• Two out of three babies who die do so because they are born too small

It seems incredible that, at the beginning of the 21st century, these figures should still be so high. It is a tragedy that despite all the best efforts of our medical services so many pregnancies should end in heartbreak.

As the UK's leading baby charity, we want to know why problems in pregnancy occur, if some people are more at risk than others and how we can prevent these problems from occurring.

Despite the magnitude of the problem, doctors still don't know why these tragedies happen. Tommy's is determined to find the answers. Since the charity was founded in 1992, Tommy's has funded more than 60 research projects and established centres for foetal health research in London and Manchester. However, there is still so much work to be done.

Tommy's also provides medical professionals, parents and parents-to-be with information about pregnancy health issues. We aim to ensure that information on health in pregnancy and reducing the risk of problems is available to all parents-to-be in the UK.

Tommy's offers a telephone information service to help pregnant women and their partners, couples considering pregnancy, parents and health professionals. By dialling 0870 777 30 60 you can receive advice on pregnancy health issues, and also order any of Tommy's information leaflets, either individually or in bulk.