Raising awareness on premature births

Port Shepstone Regional Hospital recently raised awareness of premature births and the sometimes devastating impact it can have on families.

The hospital’s public relations officer, Phumza Morai said the hospital’s Neonatal ICU staff found it relevant to embark on observing World Prematurity Day which was observed on November 17.

Dr Azi Ngongoma said a full-term pregnancy usually lasts about 40 weeks, saying that premature birth occurs before the 37th week of pregnancy.

“Premature death is the leading cause of deaths among children under the age of five. Generally, the earlier a baby is born, the higher the risks of complications, and birth weight plays an important role too,” said Ngongoma.
She added that she appreciates the mothers who gave birth to premature babies for persevering, praying, loving their babies and for following all the advice given by the clinical staff in order to reduce the risk of death among infants.
Meanwhile, Morai said the hospital’s neonatal unit is scaling up on a number of interventions that can contribute to the reduction of deaths among infants.

“One of the methods highlighted as having extraordinary benefits on the physical and mental health state for baby and the mother is prolonged skin-to-skin contact. This was highlighted as a method with extraordinary benefits, which include improved temperature regulation, infection prevention, breastmilk let-down, as well as facilitation of physiological, behavioural, psychosocial, and neuro-developmental factors,” she said.

Morai added that although many cannot avoid this, there are a number of things that can be done to help women reduce their risk of pre-term births.

“These include eliminating smoking of cigarettes or using illicit drugs, treatment for chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure, and avoiding stressful events,” she said.

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