17th November 2019 is World Prematurity Day, a World Health Organisation initiative to both celebrate advances in neonatal care whilst highlighting and raising awareness the seriousness of prematurity on both survival and long term health.
SOME KEY FACTS
According to the World Health Organisation:
- Every year, an estimated 15 million babies are born preterm (before 37 completed weeks of gestation), and this number is rising
- Preterm birth complications are the leading cause of death among children under 5 years of age, responsible for approximately 1 million deaths in 2015
- Three-quarters of these deaths could be prevented with current, cost-effective interventions
- Across 184 countries, the rate of preterm birth ranges from 5% to 18% of babies born
Preterm birth is defined as babies born before 37 weeks of completed pregnancy. Just how preterm an infant is determines it subcategory:
Extremely Preterm – less than 28 weeks gestation
Very Preterm – 28 to 32 weeks gestation
Moderate to Late Preterm – 32 to 37 weeks gestation
Prematurity in Cayman
The Cayman Islands has its fair share of preterm infants and is equipped with a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Cayman Islands Hospital in George Town. The unit cares for many preterm infants each year and has excellent neonatal nurses and a team of Government paediatricians for local babies.
In the majority of Western nations e.g. UK, USA, Europe, care of Extremely and Very preterm infants is conducted by a type of paediatrician called a Neonatologist. These highly specialist doctors hold specific skills and experiences that enable them to maximise the chances of survival and long term good health of infants born prematurely, which is important when considering that when considering that babies born at 28 weeks still have up to a 10% mortality in NICU.
Historically babies aropund these margins have been referred off-island to places such as USA, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, with mixed success, simply because of the complexity of caring for them on an island with limited resources. However, since 2016, Dr Sara Watkin, a neonatologist and ex-Chief of Service from one of the world’s leading centres for preterm care – University College London Hospitals – has been providing care on island through the George Town NICU, for private patients but also in support of the Government paediatricians.
Dr Watkin (Integra Healthcare Ltd) is delivering a talk later this week at the hospital to mark World Prematurity Day and to discuss both outcomes for preterm infants and how we can improve them.
