How Can We Put an End to Deaths in Our Preterm Babies?

A vast amount of babies die in this country each year. Even with the great amount of technology that we have here at least 30,000 babies under the age of one still die. Singapore has the world greatest survival rate for infants. This country's rate of death is three times more than Singapore. America seems to be so far behind every other industrialized country, when it comes to infant health. We are behind Cuba, Hungary, and Poland. We ranked at 30 in 2005.

Babies that were born preterm which means before 37 weeks of gestation account for around 2/3 of all infant death. Right now, 1 in 8 births that occur in this country is a preterm. This is almost a 20 percent increase since 1990. The highest risks are preemies which are born less than 32 weeks of gestation. These babies account for only 2 percent of all births, yet they account for more than half o f infant deaths. Babies that are born a week or two early survive by 99 percent.

The problem to be addressed is preterm birth. Almost half the cases of preterm births are unknown. It is evident that vey young, very old, and mothers of multiple births are among the most common of preterm births. They also are common in women with infections like vaginosis. Under weight women as well as overweigh women are at risk. Women who've had cesarean births before and bleeding or clotting disorders are also among the common preterm births.

There are obstetricians, statisticians and molecular biologists that are working together to figure out why babies are at a certain number of weeks or (9 months later). Dr. Albert Brann director of a World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Reproductive health decided to focus on the health of the mothers instead of the babies. For 6 months I 2003 and 2004, Brann along with his colleagues ran a small pilot study. They recruited 129 women in the greater Atlanta area who recently gave birth to very low-birth weight babies. Each of these women was given two years of free primary health care. They received regular checkups, nutritive screens, and chronic disease management when needed. Those who did not want to .Conceived again were given contraceptives. They also had someone assigned to help with such things as getting an apartment and enrolling in school. By reducing unwanted pregnancies, these women have a one -quarter reduction in preterm births or low weight babies compared to similar groups.

Lots of women that appeared healthy during studies in Alabama, Mississippi, and another Georgia health district still gave birth to preterm babies. There is an assumption that health in pre-conception and health during pregnancy has an impact on preterm births. Doctors are realizing that there are too many factors to pinpoint a single cause of these preterm births.

Researchers are now looking at microorganisms in the womb to see if they are responsible for preterm births. There is also a look at genes in mothers and children that may affect inflammation. In married, low-educated women seem to have a higher rate of preterm births than married college-educated women. African American babies seem to die twice as much as white (non-Hispanics). Even well -educated blacks have more deaths rates than poor whites. They think it could be the stress of social status and genetic predispositions.

source: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1912201,00.html
http://www.time.com/interactive/0,31813,1912189,00.html