75% of Premature Baby Deaths Could be Avoided

(Los Angeles Time)

Three out of every four babies who die after being born too early could be saved if more countries used inexpensive, proven techniques such as holding the baby skin-to-skin against the mother, according to new report (click HERE) from the World Health Organization and other groups.

“This is a solvable problem,” said the March of Dimes’ Christopher Howson, co-editor of the report. Countries such as Botswana and Ecuador have halved their premature neonatal deaths, he said.

Over the last two decades, premature babies have become more common in all but three countries around the globe, a dangerous and sometimes deadly trend. Almost half of all babies who pass away worldwide are born premature. Those who survive are at higher risk for lifelong physical and neurological disabilities.

The problem hits poor countries such as Malawi and Zimbabwe hardest, linked to infections and malaria. More babies are born early there and fewer survive: In low-income countries, more than 90% of extremely premature babies die, compared to less than 10% in high-income countries, Howson said.

Though the numbers are daunting, some of the solutions are surprisingly simple. “Kangaroo care" –- holding the baby skin-to-skin against the mother to keep it warm –- is one basic step that could save 450,000 of the 1.08 million babies who die annually of premature birth complications, the report said.

Steroids that help immature babies develop their lungs, which cost only a dollar per injection, could save another 400,000. Antiseptic cream and antibiotics could also save lives.

While premature births are more common and more deadly in poorer countries, they have also been on the upswing in wealthy nations such as Austria and the United States, where the trend is tied to older mothers and more fertility drugs, the report said. As of two years ago, the U.S. had a higher rate of premature births than Benin, Cambodia or Tajikistan, with higher rates for teen and middle-aged moms.

The report, released this week, was authored by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health and Save the Children, in addition to the World Health Organization and the March of Dimes Foundation.

One Premature Baby Cost $2 Million

A report that was released a couple of weeks ago found that worldwide 15 million babies are born prematurely each year.  One million of those babies die.  

It would be convenient to think that this is not a problem for the United States.  However, we ranked 131 (along with Turkey and Thailand) in a report that represents nearly 50 organizations and was published by the March of Dimes, the World Health Organization, the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and Save the Children. 


Of every 100 babies born in the U.S., 12 arrive preterm, accounting for about half a million births each year. And that’s even after preterm birth rates in the U.S. have declined for four consecutive years.

The U.S. Institute of Medicine has calculated the annual costs associated with preterm birth at more than $26 billion. Ethan and Aidan Sinconis racked up $2.2 million in medical bills in the first 18 months after they were born. Insurance covered most of the costs, but their parents’ portion approached $450,000. “It destroyed us,” says Sinconis, 35, who has written about her family’s experience in A Pound of Hope (see link at right).

She and her husband, Justin, were forced to file for bankruptcy and sold their possessions on Craigslist to generate cash. Meanwhile, the boys struggled through heart surgery and eye surgery, sepsis, rickets and brain hemorrhages. When they left the hospital after six months, they were ordered to avoid contact with the outside world. Attached to oxygen, heart monitors and feeding tubes, they remained at home in isolation for three years.

Now 5½ years old, they’re smaller than other kids their age and struggle socially because they had no playmates for their first three years. They have speech delays, but amazingly, they’re both reading and writing on a second-grade level and will start kindergarten this fall.

To read the full report click HERE