WUNRN
WHO - UN World Health Organization
PREMATURE
BIRTHS ARE 1 IN 10 BIRTHS WORLDWIDE - WHO
04
January 2010
Source:
Reuters
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Some 13 million born pre-term around globe
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Survival rates low in developing countries
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Richer countries report sharp rise in pre-term births
GENEVA,
Jan 4 (Reuters) - One in 10 of the some 130 million births around the world
each year is premature, the vast majority in poorer countries where chances of
survival are low, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.
An
article in the U.N. agency's January bulletin also reported a "dramatic
rise" in pre-term births in a range of richer countries over the past 20
years, especially in North America and parts of Europe.
Based
on studies from the mid-1990s to 2007, it said 85 percent of births before the
normal 37-week human gestation period were in Asia, with some 70 million, and
in Africa, with more than 40 million annually.
But
the highest rates of pre-term deliveries against the overall total of births
were in Africa, with an average of nearly 12 percent, and North America, with
10.6 percent, according to the article by WHO specialists and researchers.
In
Europe, the figure was only 6.2 percent and in Latin America and the Caribbean
just 9.1 percent.
Many
premature babies in Asia and Africa have no access to effective care, said Dr
Lale Say, a lead author of the article. One born at 32 weeks, weighing less
than 2,000 grams, has little chance of survival, the WHO specialist wrote.
By
contrast, an infant born at 32 weeks in a developed country is as likely to
survive as one born at full term.
Evidence
from the United States shows that about 50 percent of babies born after
gestation periods as short as 22-25 weeks may survive, half of them without
serious health problems by the time they reach 18 to 22 months of age, the
article said.
The
large numbers of premature births in Asia -- mainly in and around the Indian
sub-continent where the average is 11.4 percent -- and Africa, where in the
southern region it reaches 17.5 per cent, were largely due to absence of drugs
to treat infections suffered by mothers during pregnancy.
But
in the richer countries increasing numbers reported not just from the United
States but also from Britain and the Scandinavian countries suggested modern
medical technologies and lifestyle changes played a role.
Increasingly
women over 34 in countries with advanced health systems were choosing to have
babies. Other factors were greater use of assisted reproduction techniques and
greater numbers of mothers opting for Caesarean sections.
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