Nearly 13 million babies are born too early every year, and more than 1 million die within a month of birth, a report by a US charity released on Sunday said.
The problem mainly affects developing nations, with Africa and Asia accounting for more than 85 percent of all premature births, though US premature births have risen 36 percent over the past 25 years, a study by the March of Dimes said.
For purposes of the study, premature is considered as less than 37 full weeks of gestation.
While malnutrition and poor health care can explain many of the premature births in developing countries, factors in the US include more women becoming pregnant beyond the age of 35, and more using assisted reproduction techniques, the report said.
“Premature births are an enormous global problem that is exacting a huge toll emotionally, physically and financially on families, medical systems and economies,” March of Dimes president Jennifer Howse said.
“In the United States alone, the annual cost of caring for preterm babies and their associated health problems tops US$26 billion annually,” Howse said in a statement.
“If world leaders are serious about reaching the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health, then strategies and funding for reducing death and disability related to preterm birth must receive priority,” Howse said.
Mario Merialdi, an editor of the March of Dimes study, described the report as “a first attempt to estimate the worldwide scale of the problem.
“As a first step, it is necessary to improve data on the extent of the problem,” Merialdi said, adding that the WHO was improving its database on preterm birth.
Another problem is the lack of a widely accepted classification of preterm birth or glossary of terms, said Joy Lawn with the group Saving Newborn Lives/Save the Children USA.
“We need to at least adopt common definitions and agree on what is a preterm baby,” said Lawn, adding that more national and regional data on the long-term health problems caused by preterm birth was needed.
The data is to be presented this week at the 4th International Conference on Birth Defects and Disabilities in the Developing World in New Delhi, the March of Dimes said.
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