Premature births - dealing with a growing problem

By Martin Merzer on 10/28/2010 @ 09:47 AM

The number of premature births has climbed steadily during the last 30 years, reaching 12.9 million births annually around the world and growing by 40 percent in the United States alone.

As a result, doctors and other experts find themselves struggling to prevent or deal with the many developmental issues that can be experienced by premature babies.

“We are delivering more and more babies preterm, and we are saving more and more of them,” Anna Penn, a neonatologist at Packard Children’s Hospital in California, tells Newsweek Magazine. “But neurological outcomes are not improving in tandem.”

This is one reason why The Children's Movement of Florida includes among its first five areas of special focus a concentration on parental education and support (including expectant mother and prenatal care) and a determination to improve the early screening and treatment of infant special needs.

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