By Emmanuel Akayeti
A durbar has been organized by the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Upper East Regional Hospital, to climax an ongoing series of activities, aimed at creating awareness on premature births, as part of the yearly prematurity month celebration.
The durbar brought together stakeholders to share ideas, and experiences and to propose measures for improved health outcomes especially for pre-term babies as part of the dissemination of information to create public awareness of the celebration.
World prematurity day is a global movement to create awareness of premature birth and some demoralizing effects it can have on families.
In an interview with our Correspondent Emmanuel Akayeti on Pretermbabies, Sheila Nigre Neonatal Nurse Specialist at the NICU Unit said a premature baby is one who is born earlier than 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. Pre-term birth she added is a world-wild challenge and its rate is rising, saying Africa and South Asia have more than 60% of global pre-term births.
Ms Nigre stated that, every year, more than one in 10 babies are born pre-term, and it is the risk factor for low birth weight and is the leading cause of death of under 5 years. She indicated that 1 million out of the 15 million pre-term babies born annually die as a result of complications. She indicated that, pre-term births are the second leading cause of admission in the newborn care unit and a lot of resources are needed for positive health outcomes.
Pre-term deliveries come with psychological, emotional, physical, and economic challenges to both parents, the health facilities, and the nation at large.
A mother by the name of Cynthia Abaane who has gone through the system on two occasions said had it not been the NICU unit she would have lost her children. She said that the first time she saw the child after birth, she did not believe the could be survived but the NICU nurses kept encouraging and teaching her what to do and she obeyed. As of now, the first-born is 4 years of age, a big boy.
Madam Abaane, therefore, appealed to individuals, philanthropies, and the government to come to their aid with the relevant equipment, and more infrastructure to ease congestion at the Unit to avoid infections.
