Premature Births Soar In The U.S. And Is Now The #1 Obstetric Problem
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Each year more than 476,250 babies are born premature, before completing 37 weeks of gestation. Between 1990-1999, the percentage of all babies born pre-term increased by more than 5% in California.
In the United States, prematurity is the leading cause of infant deaths in the first month of life. It also can result in serious long-term consequences. 50% of premature babies develop mild to severe problems, such as blindness and learning disabilities that affect them for their entire lives. The causes of most premature births are still unknown.
Preventing prematurity will be the focus of the next March of Dimes national campaign. As with our fight against polio before the vaccines, we have been making progress in preventing and treating the consequences of prematurity, with limited success in preventing the underlying problem. It took 17 years until the Salk vaccine was developed to prevent the problem of infection with polio. Similarly, our first success with the problem of prematurity was the establishment of neonatal intensive care units at top level hospitals around the country to give high-risk newborns access to expert care. This has dramatically increased the survival rate of premature babies.
Survival is not enough. We want to prevent preterm birth to avoid the suffering associated with the problem. This is why we are launching in 2003 the March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign. The aims of the campaign are to
- Invest research dollars to find the causes and interventions
- Raise public awareness about the problem
- Educate women of childbearing age about the warning signs of preterm labor
- Assist health professionals in improving detection of high-risk pregnancies and addressing risk factors
- Promote access to health insurance to improve prenatal and infant health outcomes
With your dedication and support, we are working towards the day when every baby gets a healthy start in life. |
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