World Prematurity Day 2022: A Parent’s Embrace: A Powerful Therapy – Enable Skin-To-Skin Contact From the Moment of Birth
Every year on 17 November we raise awareness of the challenges and the global burden of preterm birth on the occasion of World Prematurity Day. Initiated in 2008 by EFCNI and other European parent organizations and joined by the US organization March of Dimes, the African organization LittleBigSouls, and the Australian National Premmie Foundation in 2010, this day wants to honor the 15 million babies that are born preterm every year, worldwide. What started as a small initiative, has become a global movement. Today, individuals and organizations from across the world join forces with activities and events to draw attention to the topic of preterm birth and to eventually improve the situation of preterm babies and their families.
Each year, World Prematurity Day is dedicated to a global motto, which this year is: A parent’s embrace: a powerful therapy. Enable skin-to-skin contact from the moment of birth.
This motto is not only intended to emphasize the role of Infant and family-centered development care (IFCDC) in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). It also highlights methods such as skin-to-skin care and Kangaroo Care as powerful practices to promote the health outcomes of preterm and very low birth weight babies from the very beginning.
Compared to their term-born peers, babies born prematurely often have a weaker immune system and are more likely to receive intensive medical treatment, making them especially susceptible to sepsis. An infection can be transferred during invasive medical procedures such as intravenous lines or breathing support by a mechanical ventilator. IFCDC practices such as Kangaroo Care have been shown to reduce severe infections by 65% as they have a positive effect on the temperature regulation of the baby and support breathing, and weight gain.[1]
[1] Conde-Agudelo A. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 8 (2016)