The Kingdom will join the World Health Organization in observing the World Prematurity Day today.
Princess Oraib Bint Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz launched a Kingdom-wide awareness campaign In early January to tell mothers how the birth premature infants can be prevented and treated before and after childbirth.
The first World Prematurity Day last year was a collaboration among the March of Dimes, the European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants (EFCNI) representing parents in 20 European countries, Africa-based Little Big Souls International Foundation, and the National Premmie Foundation of Australia.
Last May, the launch of Born Too Soon: The Global Action Report on Preterm Birth, which presented first-ever statistics on the growing global tragedy of preterm babies, brought a new wave of support to this important issue .
Based on 2010 figures, prematurity is the second-leading cause of death in children under the age of 5, after pneumonia. An estimated 15 million babies are born too soon every year, or before 37 completed weeks of gestation. In addition more than 1.1 million preterm babies die every year.
Collaboration on this report between nearly 50 international, regional and national organizations, led by The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), the March of Dimes, Save the Children and the World Health Organization, set in motion a global movement to promote progress on preterm birth in support of the Every Woman Every Child effort led by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
At the time of the report's launch, 30 new and expanded commitments specific to prevention and care of preterm birth were also announced commitments which have now become part of the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health, joining more than 200 existing commitments in support of the Every Woman Every Child effort.
"Premature babies delivered before 37 weeks of pregnancy are usually stunted in their growth," Dr. Khalid Al-Tirkawi , neonatal consultant at the King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh told Arab News yesterday.
Al-Tirkawi pointed out that a total of 574,000 births are registered in the Kingdom and seven to 12 percent of them are premature babies.
The consultant said that premature babies are invariably affected with respiratory diseases such as pneumonia, anemia, jaundice and infections resulting in reducing the immune system. The immune system is immature and premie babies could suffer from inflammation of enterocolitis, retinopathy, cerebral palsy and intraventricular hemorrhage.
An official from the Ministry of Health said preterm birth is the world's largest killer of newborn babies, yet 75 percent could be saved without expensive, high technology care.
Breast feeding for premature baby is the most important factors to increase the level of immunity among the infants.
He also said that globally, around 42 percent of the pregnant mothers do not know the problems of premature babies and in the Kingdom the ignorance of such mothers has reached 50 percent. He added that the Kingdom's campaign would also focus on mothers who have already have premature babies with them at present.
"People think that preterm babies need intensive, high-tech care, but we have simple methods that really work and would save hundreds of thousands of lives," says Dr. Joy Lawn of Save the Children, a neonatal physician.
Babies born between 32 and less than 37 completed weeks of pregnancy make up 85 percent of the 15 million preterm babies born annually -12.6 million.
The countries with the greatest numbers of moderate to late preterm births annually include India 2,959,300; China 981,050; Nigeria 665,080; Pakistan 633,640; Indonesia 564,350; United States 438,410; Bangladesh 355,030; Philippines 295,780; Democratic Republic of Congo 291,750; and Brazil 233,320.
"Essential newborn care is especially important for babies born preterm," said Dr. Elizabeth Mason, director of WHO's Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health. "This means keeping them warm, clean, and well-fed, and ensuring that babies who have difficulty breathing get immediate attention."
Mohammed Rasooldeen - Arab News
