Improving preterm birth outcomes: WHO launches new guidance

World Prematurity Day is a day on which countries around the world seek to raise awareness of the devastating consequences of preterm birth. Every year, around 15 million babies are born preterm, that is to say born before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. Complications of preterm birth are the leading cause of death amongst children under five years of age, responsible for nearly one million deaths in 2013. Without appropriate treatment, survivors of complications of preterm birth are at increased risk of lifelong disability and poor quality of life.

We can save many more babies with effective interventions. We must focus our efforts on how to improve the outcomes for babies that are born preterm.

Dr Femi Oladapo, Department of Reproductive Health and Research

New guidance

WHO’s new guidance WHO recommendations on interventions to improve preterm birth outcomes has been launched to help prevent the complications and consequences of preterm birth. Adding to efforts worldwide to further reduce child mortality, the guidance offers recommendations on interventions which can be provided to the mother when preterm birth is imminent and to the preterm infant after birth, with the aim of improving outcomes for preterm infants.

Key interventions

A set of key interventions are included in the new guidance, which can improve the chance of survival and health outcomes for preterm infants. It includes interventions provided to the mother – for example steroid injections before birth, antibiotics when her water breaks, and magnesium sulfate to prevent future neurological impairment of the child – as well as interventions for the baby – for example thermal care (keeping the baby warm), safe oxygen use, and use of surfactant (a specific medicine) to help infants breathe more easily.

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Tanzanians spend 173bn/- abroad for NCDs treatment

Tanzanians spend between US$70 million (about 151,5bn/-) and US$80 million annually (about 173.2bn/-) on specialized treatment abroad, a prominent Indian hospital has said in a note on its relationship with the country.

 

According to Apollo Group of Hospitals, the money is mostly spent on the treatment of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which are increasingly becoming a huge burden on the shoulders of the national healthcare system.

 

“The country’s current capacity to treat heart diseases, open heart surgery, cancer, kidney problems and neurosurgery is very low, and many people are choosing to travel abroad to Indian hospitals such as Apollo Hospitals,” its Chief Executive Dr Hari Prasad said in the note.

 

Heart disease is the second leading cause of death in Tanzania after malaria, claiming 287 lives a day or 104,755 lives a year, according to the Tanzanian Cardiac Hospital Foundation. 

 

The organization has it that 20 per cent of all the deaths in the country stems from lack of medical facilities and poverty. NCDs account for 124,930 (31 per cent) of the 403,000 deaths that occur in the country annually.

 

According to the latest WHO non-communicable disease country profiles, global mortality due to NCDs continues to rise. The report says 38 million people die each year of NCDs. People aged between 30 and 70 comprise nearly half of those who die of these diseases in developing countries.

 

“Apollo Hospitals is a well-known group amongst Tanzanians, as several top government officials, businessmen and women, and hundreds of heart patients are known to have received specialized treatment from the facilities,” the note released recently reads in part.

 

Tanzanians are the second most medical tourists to India from Africa after Nigerians. Africa’s largest economy leads the chart with 42.4 per cent of the 34, 522 Nigerians, who visited India, going there for medical treatment.

 

According to the New Delhi-based Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), out of the 23,345 Tanzanians who visited India in 2013, 4,319 were medical tourists.

 

RIS says in a report that most of these were treated at facilities of Apollo Hospitals. 

 

Immediate former President Jakaya Kikwete visited the hospital during his state visit to India in June. During the June 17 to June 21visit, Mr Kikwete reaffirmed Tanzania’s commitment to partner with the group.

 

“Offering world renowned medical services at a fraction of other leading international centres has been Apollo Hospital’s drive for medical tourism. Apollo has today grown into the premier destination for various Tanzanians seeking advanced health care solutions,” the group said in the note.

 

“Recent noteworthy achievements include the successful surgery separation of Tanzanian conjoined twins,” it added.

 

Apollo Hospitals specialists often visit Tanzania for medical camps to provide their expertise and medical assistance to locally-based patients. Specialist doctors at Apollo have also offered training services to many Tanzanian doctors and nurses over the last few years.

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Woman’s risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes nearly halved over 25 years – UN report

Maternal mortality has fallen by 44 per cent since 1990, United Nations agencies and the World Bank reported, giving fresh impetus to efforts to reach by 2030 the virtual elimination of women’s chances of dying from pregnancy-related causes as part of the new UN Sustainable Development Goals.

“Maternal deaths around the world dropped from about 532,000 in 1990 to some 303,000 this year, according to the report by the World Health Organization, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Population Fund, the World Bank Group and the UN Population Division, which is part of the UN Secretariat.

The analyses contained in Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2015 – Estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division, are being published simultaneously in the medical journal The Lancet.

Maternal mortality is defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy, childbirth or within six weeks after birth, according to the report.

“Over the past 25 years, a woman’s risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes has nearly halved,” said Dr. Flavia Bustreo, WHO Assistant Director-General, Family, Women’s and Children’s Health. “That’s real progress, although it is not enough. We know that we can virtually end these deaths by 2030 and this is what we are committing to work towards.”

A new Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September 2015, aims to help achieve the ambitious target of reducing maternal deaths to fewer than 70 per 100,000 live births globally, as included in the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).

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