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Babies born prematurely need help
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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According to WHO estimates, every year more and more children are born prematurely (before 37 weeks). Also, birth before 37 weeks is one of the main causes of death among newborns and among children under 5 years old, for example, last year alone 1 million premature babies died, a third of whom could have been saved using modern methods, even if it is not possible to place the newborn in the intensive care unit.
In medicine, premature babies are divided into several groups: up to 28 weeks (extremely premature), from 28 to 32 weeks (significantly premature), from 32 to 37 weeks (moderately or slightly premature).
Many premature babies suffer from lifelong disabilities, including problems with learning new information, vision, and hearing.
But despite all the achievements of science and medicine, there is a tendency in the world to increase the number of children born prematurely, in addition, in countries with a low standard of living, about 50% of children born before 32 weeks (at 7 months) die because they do not receive basic care for infections or breathing problems. In comparison, in countries with a high standard of living, such children almost always survive.
According to WHO experts, premature babies can be given effective help and their lives can be saved, for example, by providing basic medical care to the mother and her baby during and after birth, giving women at risk of premature birth special steroid injections that will help strengthen the lungs of newborns, ensuring that premature babies are constantly with their mother and are breastfed frequently.
Monitoring the pregnant woman and properly managing her condition can reduce the number of premature births by more than 20%.
WHO experts note that competent prenatal care for women should include consultations on healthy nutrition, the use of nicotine, alcohol, and drugs, monitoring fetal development using ultrasound, and timely identification of risk factors (for example, infections).
Premature birth can be caused by various reasons, most often it happens suddenly, but there are cases when labor is induced artificially before the due date (caesarean section, labor stimulation) both for medical reasons and without them. Premature birth can begin spontaneously due to multiple pregnancies, infections, chronic diseases of the mother (diabetes, hypertension), but more often the cause remains unknown. The WHO notes that it is necessary to more accurately understand the causes of this pathology in order to develop effective methods of combating premature birth.
For several years now, WHO has been trying to change the situation, and today new recommendations have been issued that should help improve obstetric outcomes and reduce the number of premature babies. The new guidelines include information on the need for steroid injections to strengthen the lungs of the unborn baby, antibacterial drugs to prevent infections, magnesium sulfate to prevent neurological diseases in the newborn, and emphasize the importance of care for premature babies in a stable condition (skin-to-skin contact, frequent breastfeeding, etc.) and ensuring effective care for babies whose lungs have not fully or partially opened.
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