How will the M-BDIS benefit Minnesota?
Better tracking of when and where birth defects occur and potential links to environmental and other factors would provide critical information to help prevent them in the future. Without a system in place, the assessment of disease trends is very difficult and the development of sound public health policy based on scientific data is nearly impossible. Knowledge of the occurrence of birth defects will help the MDH link families to the services they need. All data is private, meaning it can only be released to the individual and other carefully monitored organizations.
