Report Calls Attention to Millions of Preterm Births

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Each year millions of babies are born too soon and too small. Premature or preterm births are defined as births at less than thirty-seven weeks.

Prematurity is the leading cause of death in newborn babies. More than one-fourth of the four million newborns who die each year around the world were born too early.

Preterm babies that survive can suffer a lifetime of serious health conditions. The examples include cerebral palsy, blindness, hearing problems and learning disabilities. Families and communities face emotional, physical and financial costs.

Christopher Howson is the vice president for global programs at the March of Dimes, a nonprofit group. His group and the World Health Organization recently published a report called "The Global and Regional Toll of Preterm Birth."

CHRISTOPHER HOWSON: "Frankly the crisis of preterm birth is under-recognized, undercounted, undervalued and underfunded. I mean, this reports shows that thirteen million babies are born every year preterm, and that over a million of those babies die as a result of being born too early."

And these are just estimates; the true numbers could be even higher. More than eighty-five percent of preterm births happen in Africa and Asia. Africa has the highest rate, with about four million cases each year.

Chris Howson says many of the causes of preterm births are related to poverty and weak health-care systems.

CHRISTOPHER HOWSON: "For example, the poor overall health and nutritional status of women. A high burden of infectious diseases. Lack of provision of family planning -- allowing a women to decide when to start and end having children and how to space her children. And also the lack of good prenatal care programs that might identify problems early on in pregnancy."

Preterm births are a problem not just in the developing world. The combined rate in the United States and Canada is the second highest in the world. Preterm birth rates in the United States have increased thirty-six percent in the last twenty-five years.

This has been largely the result of two reasons. One is an increase in pregnancies among women over age thirty-five. The other is an increase in the use of reproductive therapies. Fertility treatments can produce multiple births, which increases the risk that the babies will arrive early.

One of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals for two thousand fifteen is to reduce death rates in young children by two-thirds. Chris Howson says premature births must be reduced if that goal is to be met. What is being done about this issue? That will be our subject next week.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. Transcripts and MP3s are at 51voa.com. I'm Steve Ember.

这里是VOA特别英语发展报道。

每年，数百万婴儿出生过早，体型过小。早产儿是指不足37周便出生的婴儿。

早产是新生儿死亡的首要原因。每年死亡的400万新生儿中，超过四分之一出生过早。

早产儿即使有幸存活，也会遭受一生严重的健康问题，包括大脑性麻痹，失明，听力问题和学习能力障碍。家人和社会都面临情感，身体和财政方面的压力。

Christopher Howson是全球非盈利机构“10美分行动”(March of Dimes)的副主席。最近，该组织和世界卫生组织发表了一篇报告，名为“全球和区域性早产数据”。

Christopher Howson：“坦白地说，早产危机未得到充分的认识，计算，评估和资助。我的意思是，这份报告显示，每年有1300万婴儿早产，100万婴儿因早产而死亡。”

而这仅仅是估计的数字，真正的数字可能更高。超过85%的早产发生在非洲和亚洲。其中非洲的比率最高，每年大约有400万例。

Chris Howson说，许多早产的原因与贫穷和匮乏的医疗体系相关。

Chris Howson：“例如，女性整体匮乏的健康和营养状况。传染病的影响。缺少家庭规划条款——使女性决定什么时候开始和结束生育孩子，怎样安置孩子。同时，缺乏产前护理项目。通过产前护理项目可以及早在怀孕初期发现问题。”

早产不仅仅是发展中国家的问题。美国和加拿大两国的早产总数居世界第二位。在过去的25年，美国的早产率增加了36%。

而这个问题通常是由于两个原因。其中一个是，超过35岁女性怀孕数量增加。另外一个原因是生殖治疗使用的增加。生育治疗会导致多生，这会增加婴儿早产的风险。

联合国2015年千年发展目标的其中一个目标就是，将婴幼儿死亡率降低三分之二。Chris Howson表示，如果要达到这个目标，必须降低早产率。目前，关于这个问题采取了那些措施呢？这将是我们下周的话题。