Caring for preterm babies is a test of how we respond to our most vulnerable citizens

摘要

Global progress in child survival cannot be achieved without tackling the issue of prematurity. World Prematurity Day, on Nov 17, 2013, provides an opportunity to raise concerns about the increasing rates of preterm births during the past two decades in many countries around the world.More than 1 million children around the world die each year due to complications of preterm birth, which is the second leading cause of death in children younger than 5 years after pneumonia.2 Yet at least three-quarters of babies born too soon could survive with greater availability of cost-effective, proven forms of care. Kangaroo mother care, for example, involves the practice of skin-to-skin warmth to protect babies from hypothermia and exclusive breastfeeding to prevent infections. Nearly half of all preterm deaths could be prevented by 2015 if families and caregivers in the most affected countries around the world were to practise kangaroo mother care.