The celebration of World Prematurity Day annually on November 17 to raise awareness of preterm or premature birth means the reproductive problem is not anything to gloss over.
The condition is said to cause a heavy burden of death and disability, psychological stress, and pain and suffering to parents, families, communities and nations at large.
In fact, it is known to be the leading cause of neonatal deaths locally and worldwide.
It is sad to learn that 15 million babies are born prematurely worldwide and one million of them do not survive.
In Ghana, about 200,000 babies are annually born prematurely and that about 50 per cent of babies delivered annually at the maternity unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) are preterm.
Going by the global calculations, it means about seven per cent of these children die and among them could be the children some parents had longed for.
They can also be the only birth a couple would have in a lifetime and even if the scenarios are different, the death of a baby is generally a bitter experience to the couple, their extended families and neighbours.
The cost incurred by parents and, sometimes loved ones, as well as health facilities (that is, the government for that matter) in the hope of ensuring the child’s survival cannot be ignored either.
Among superstitious societies, particularly in the under-developed world, preterm children are seen as evil and so couples giving birth to such babies suffer additional burden of being deemed accursed.
Thanks to medical science that such myths have been unravelled to a large extent as doctors say preterm births are mostly due to certain pregnancy-related complications, which are expertly handled by medical professionals.
To this end, we encourage expectant mothers to adhere to all the pieces of advice given by the hospitals and clinics.
For instance, paediatricians advise expectant mothers to seek early antenatal care to help reduce risks of delivering preterm babies and thus improve the chances of the survival of their babies.
It is unfortunate to hear that even though antenatal care is free under the country’s National Health Insurance Scheme, some pregnant women employ all manner of excuses to avoid going for that care.
We think as others do that children are the hope of the continuous survival of every society and so efforts by the government, the hospitals and their partners like Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Soldiers, an advocacy organisation and Ghandour Cosmetics Limited, both providing support for parents of preterm babies and the babies, must not be allowed to go to waste.
Maybe, this is the time for the National Commission for Civic Education to organise special programmes in the rural and peri-urban communities to stress the need to discard superstitions associated with premature birth and the importance of expectant mothers giving special attention to antenatal care.
We agree that the government should provide the necessary facilities for the care of preterm babies, yet we also think if women would take seriously all the necessary reproduction-related advice given them, the pressure on the government in that area would ease.
Besides, the incidence of preterm births would reduce, and as that happens, couples, families and their communities, as well as the government would be saved all the associated unpleasantness, including the loss of talents for national development.
