The World Health Organization (WHO) commemorates November 17 World Premature Children's Day as a way to collaborate so that the international population knows and takes measures against prematurity, the main cause of death in young children.
To help mothers and premature babies, the WHO proposes greater use of the technique known as kangaroo mother, which keeps the baby in contact with the mother's skin to provide warmth and facilitate breastfeeding. It is estimated that greater use of this simple technique could save about 450.000 premature babies per year.
Measures to reduce the risk of premature birth include:
- La Family planning: to improve the spacing between births and avoid pregnancy in women under 17 and over 40 years of age.
- La reduction in the number of embryos transferred in fertility treatments.
- La elimination of elective cesarean sections and not medically necessary that are performed before 39 weeks of gestation.
It should be noted that among the risk factors related to premature births are obesity and high blood pressure.