75% of deaths of premature babies are preventable, says report

Source: The Guardian

Some 15 million babies are born too soon every year, and 1 million of them will die while many others are disabled – but many of these premature births and deaths are preventable, according to the first report into the global scale of the problem.
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The report argues that is not the case. Kangaroo mother care, where the tiny baby is placed skin to skin on the mother's chest and stays there for weeks, until they are at the stage where they would have been born, is being taken up in African countries. "That for me has been so inspiring," said Lawn. Trial evidence has shown that it halves the death rate for small babies compared with being in an incubator. The babies gain more weight and feed better.

Steroid injections costing just $1 (60p) a shot, given to women in premature labour, help develop the baby's lungs so they can breathe at birth. This is routine in the developed world but only available for 10% of premature babies in developing countries. That alone could save 400,000 lives a year. Antibiotics can help prevent and treat infection, and antiseptic cream can ensure the cord does not get infected.

Even in developed countries, the rates of pre-term baby deaths are too high among some communities. In the US the pre-term birth rate in 2009 for African Americans was 17.5% compared with 10.9% for white Americans. The age of the mother made a significant difference. In the US the premature birth rate for women aged 20 to 35 was between 11-12% but rose to over 15% for women under 17 and over 40.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/02/premature-baby-deaths-preventable-report?newsfeed=true

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Link to report: http://www.who.int/pmnch/media/news/2012/preterm_birth_report/en/index.html