Raleigh, North Carolina – Governor Josh Stein has officially recognized May 17, 2026, as “Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) Awareness Day” in North Carolina. Additionally, North Carolina Representative Allen Buansi read a representative statement from the well of the State House in recognition of NEC Awareness Month.
Necrotizing enterocolitis, also known as NEC, is the most common cause of death in hospitalized premature infants after two weeks of age. NEC causes a severe inflammatory process that can lead to intestinal tissue damage and death, and once NEC is diagnosed, many babies only live for a few hours or days.
Thousands of babies develop NEC each year, and hundreds of babies die from this complex intestinal disease. Babies born prematurely or with a medical condition, like a congenital heart defect, are most at risk of NEC, and babies who survive NEC often have lifelong neurological and nutritional complications.
The risk of NEC cannot be fully eliminated, and there are not yet sure ways to stop or cure NEC. There is an urgent need to increase research, education, and advocacy surrounding NEC.
The NEC Society is grateful to Representative Allen Buansi for his commitment to raising awareness on behalf of babies at risk of and affected by this devastating disease.
NEC Society Communications Director, Sarah Piephoff, and Dr. Misty Good led the initiative to gain recognition for NEC awareness in their state.
Dr. Good is the Division Chief of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at UNC Children’s Hospital and an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UNC Chapel Hill. Dr. Good has served as a Scientific Advisor to the NEC Society since 2017 and co-chaired the 2025 NEC Symposium in Chicago. Dr. Good leads the multi-center NEC Biorepository through her laboratory at UNC. The goal of the NEC biorepository is to launch research projects that improve our understanding of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and get us closer to a world without NEC.
North Carolina joins Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas, California, Utah, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Georgia, and Louisiana in recognizing NEC Awareness Day. The NEC Awareness Day Resolution has also been introduced in the US House by US Representatives Mike Thompson, Kevin Kiley, and Carol Miller.
Join the state of North Carolina and the NEC Society by raising NEC awareness in honor of babies affected by this devastating disease at NECsociety.org
The NEC Society is the world’s leading nonprofit dedicated to understanding and preventing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). We are led by patient-families, clinicians, and researchers who share our vision: to build a world without NEC through research, education, and advocacy so that babies and families never have to experience the devastation of NEC.
