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UN / PRETERM BIRTH LAUNCH
STORY: UN / PRETERM BIRTH LAUNCH
TRT: 2.26
SOURCE: UNTV / UNFPA / SAVE THE CHILDREN / MARCH OF DIMES
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 2 MAY 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – DATE UNKNOWN, MEXICO
1. Med shot, preterm baby crying in hospital bed
FILE – UNFPA – DATE UNKNOWN, MALAWI
2. Close up, preterm baby in hospital
FILE – DATE UNKNOWN, INDONESIA
3. Various shots, nurses attending to preterm babies in hospital
FILE – UNFPA – DATE UNKNOWN, BOLIVIA
4. Various shots, doctor examining preterm baby in hospital
UNTV – 2 MAY 2012, NEW YORK CITY
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Carole Presern, Director of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health:
“Prematurity is the number one cause of newborn death and the number two cause of death among all children under the age of five, and I want to pause on that because this is completely new and groundbreaking.”
FILE – UNFPA – DATE UNKNOWN, MALAWI
6. Pan left, mothers waiting in crowded High Risk Antenatal Room
FILE – MARCH OF DIMES – DATE UNKNOWN, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES
7. Wide shot, nurse working with preterm baby in hospital
8. Close up, preterm baby’s feet
9. Various shots, preterm babies in hospital
FILE – UNTV – 2011 – NEW YORK CITY
10. Wide shot, exterior UN headquarters
UNTV – 2 MAY 2012, NEW YORK CITY
11. Wide shot, podium
12. Med shot, Adam Pallone’s daughter
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Pallone, parent of preterm baby:
“Her brain injuries made it difficult for her to eat, and she currently has to receive her food through a tube that’s implanted into her stomach. She’s been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, her days are filled with physical therapy and doctor’s visits. She’ll be turning two in almost a week, and she’s still unable to crawl or sit without assistance. Since her birth, her medical bills have totalled over 1.2 million dollars. Her condition, resulting from her prematurity, will likely require lifelong care, and many more treatments, many more bills.”
13. Close up, Adam Pallone’s daughter
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Joy Lawn, Save the Children:
“They’re born too soon; they should never be born to die. And in many low-income countries, those babies are still dying from very simple things: [not] keeping them warm, preventing infections, treating infections, feeding support.”
FILE – SAVE THE CHILDREN – NOVEMBER 2009, LILONGWE, MALAWI
15. Various shots, mother in KMC clinic learning to keep her preterm baby warm using ‘kangaroo care’
FILE – UNFPA – DATE UNKNOWN, INDIA
16. Med shot, doctor examining pregnant woman in clinic
FILE – UNFPA – DATE UNKNOWN, MALAWI
17. Tilt up, healthy infant being weighed on village scale to grinning mother
Being born too soon can mean agony for life, and that’s for those lucky enough to survive.
A new UN-backed report says that 15 million babies – more than one in ten – are born prematurely each year, meaning they are delivered before 39 weeks of gestation.
Many of those babies suffer some type of lifelong physical, neurological, or educational disability, often at great cost to families and society.
And each year, over one million preterm babies die shortly after birth.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Carole Presern, Director of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health:
“Prematurity is the number one cause of newborn death and the number two cause of death among all children under the age of five, and I want to pause on that because this is completely new and groundbreaking.”
Most of the countries with preterm rates above 15 percent are in Africa – but the problem is not confined to low-income countries.
The United States - with one in nine of all babies being born preterm – is among the world’s ten countries with the highest number of preterm births.
At the report launch event at United Nations (UN) headquarters today (2 May), one American family spoke about the consequences of their daughter’s premature birth at 29 weeks.
SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Pallone, parent of preterm baby:
“Her brain injuries made it difficult for her to eat, and she currently has to receive her food through a tube that’s implanted into her stomach. She’s been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, her days are filled with physical therapy and doctor’s visits. She’ll be turning two in almost a week, and she’s still unable to crawl or sit without assistance. Since her birth, her medical bills have totalled over 1.2 million dollars. Her condition, resulting from her prematurity, will likely require lifelong care, and many more treatments, many more bills.”
In poor countries, preterm babies rarely make it that far. More than 90 percent die within the first few days of life.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Joy Lawn, Save the Children:
“They’re born too soon; they should never be born to die. And in many low-income countries, those babies are still dying from very simple things: [not] keeping them warm, preventing infections, treating infections, feeding support.”
According to the report, inexpensive treatments could save at least three quarters of preterm babies in the developing world.
The authors estimate that “kangaroo care" alone, where the infant is held skin-to-skin on the mother's chest to keep warm, could save almost half a million lives a year.
And one big key to reducing preterm deaths, they say, is to help all pregnancies go to full term, because “a healthy baby is worth the wait”.
‘Born Too Soon: The Global Action Report on Preterm Birth’ was produced by The March of Dimes Foundation, The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, Save the Children and the World Health Organization (WHO), with contributions from over 100 experts, representing almost 40 UN agencies, universities and organizations.
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