The results of a newly conducted study have revealed that in 2020, roughly 13.4 million babies were delivered prematurely, indicating that one-tenth of the world’s newborns faced early births, occurring before the 37-week milestone.
The Lancet recently featured a study authored by experts from prominent organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
This research lamented the detrimental impact on health and survival, highlighting the contributory factors of poor maternal health and malnutrition to the escalating numbers of premature births.
The authors suggested that because prematurity stands as the foremost cause of child mortality in their formative years, it is imperative to urgently bolster the care provided to preterm infants while also intensifying efforts in prevention. This includes an emphasis on enhancing maternal health and nutrition to ultimately enhance childhood survival.
‘For those who live, preterm birth also significantly increases the likelihood of suffering major illnesses, disability and developmental delays, and even chronic diseases as adults like diabetes and heart conditions,’ the study stated.
Similar to various critical maternal health metrics, there has been no substantial decrease in preterm birth rates in any part of the globe during the last decade.
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Over the course of the decade from 2010 to 2020, the global rate of reduction in preterm births annually registered at just 0.14 percent.
Reacting to the study, the Director of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at WHO, Dr Anshu Banerjee said: ‘Preterm babies are especially vulnerable to life-threatening health complications and they need special care and attention.’
‘These numbers show an urgent need for serious investment in services available to support them and their families as well as a greater focus on prevention in particular, ensuring access to quality health care before and during every pregnancy.’
The paper, National, regional, and Global Estimates of Preterm Birth in 2020, with Trends from 2010: A Systematic Analysis, provides global, regional and country estimates and trends for preterm births between 2010 and 2020, revealing large disparities between regions and countries.
The paper’s data reveals that in 2020, approximately 65 percent of preterm births were concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, regions where over 13 percent of newborns were delivered prematurely.
Significantly, the most heavily impacted countries, such as Bangladesh (16.2 percent), Malawi (14.5 percent), and Pakistan (14.3 percent), reported rates three to four times higher than the least affected nations, including Serbia (3.8 percent), Moldova (4 percent), and Kazakhstan (4.7 percent).
Preterm birth transcends economic boundaries, as the data vividly demonstrates. It affects families worldwide, including some high-income countries like Greece (11.6 percent) and the United States of America (10 percent), where preterm birth rates soar to 10 percent or more.
Multiple studies have unveiled the tight association between maternal health risks, encompassing adolescent pregnancy, infections, poor nutrition, and pre-eclampsia, and the occurrence of preterm births.
Additionally, the study stressed the pivotal significance of quality antenatal care in the timely identification and management of complications, which includes accurate pregnancy dating through early ultrasound scans and, when warranted, the use of approved treatments to postpone labour.