Early-Born Children Need Help
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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According to WHO estimates, every year more and more children are born in the world before the due date (up to 37 weeks). Also, births up to 37 weeks are one of the main causes of death among newborns and among children under 5 years old, for example, only 1 million premature infants died last year, a third of which could be saved by modern methods, even if it is not possible to put a newborn in the intensive care unit.
In medicine, children born before the term are divided into several groups: up to 28 weeks (very early), from 28 to 32 weeks (much earlier than the term), from 32 to 37 weeks (moderately or slightly earlier).
Many premature babies suffer from disability throughout their entire life, including problems with learning new information, seeing, hearing.
But despite all the achievements of science and medicine, there is a tendency in the world to increase the number of children born before the term, 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 primary care for infections or breathing problems. For comparison, in countries with a high standard of living, these children almost always survive.
According to WHO experts, children born before the term can be provided with effective help and save their lives, for example, provide basic medical care to the mother and her child during and after childbirth, make women with the threat of premature birth special injections of steroids that help strengthen the lungs newborns, provide early-term children with a permanent stay with their mother and frequent breastfeeding.
Observation of a pregnant woman and competent management of her condition can reduce the number of premature births by more than 20%.
In WHO, experts note that a woman's prenatal monitoring should include advice on healthy eating, nicotine, alcohol, drugs, control of fetal development with ultrasound, timely identification of risk factors (eg, infections).
There are different reasons for giving birth to the term before the term, most often it happens suddenly, but there are cases when the birth is caused artificially before the due date (cesarean, stimulation of labor), both for medical reasons and without them. Spontaneous delivery before the term can begin because of multiple pregnancies, infections, chronic diseases of the mother (diabetes, hypertension), but more often the cause remains unknown. WHO notes that it is necessary to understand more precisely the causes of this pathology in order to develop effective methods of combating premature birth.
For several years WHO has been trying to change the situation, and today new recommendations have been issued that should help improve the results in obstetrical practice and reduce the number of children born before the term. The new principles contain information on the need for steroid injections to strengthen lungs of unproven, antibacterial drugs to prevent the development of infections, magnesium sulfate to prevent neurological diseases in a newborn, stresses the importance of care for early-born children in stable condition (skin to skin contact , often applying to the chest, etc.) and providing effective care for children who have not fully or partially opened their lungs.
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