A new study found that being born too early is now the leading cause of death in infants worldwide. This health complication killed 1.1 million people in 2013, more infants than any other individual infectious disease, including pneumonia, which was the cause of death for 935,000 children.
Infectious diseases as a whole still killed the majority of children under the age of 5 in 2013, but this still shows that the global health climate is starting to shift away from infectious diseases as a primary concern in infant health.
"This marks a turning of the tide, a transition from infections to neonatal conditions, especially those related to premature births, and this will require entirely different medical and public health approaches. The success we've seen in the ongoing fight against infectious diseases demonstrates that we can also be successful if we invest in prevention and care for preterm birth," said Dr. Joy Lawn, one of the researchers on this study.
Lawn said that two-thirds of the children who died in 2013 from complications of being born prematurely could have been saved by simple measures like keeping the child warm and breastfeeding it. These can be accomplished by "kangaroo mother care," in which the mother straps the infant to her chest, causing the infant to stay warm through body heat and enabling easier breastfeeding.
The study also found that overall, the rate of childhood mortality went down. There were 3.6 million fewer deaths overall in 2013 compared to 2000. The authors of the study attributed that to improved methods to treat infectious diseases like pneumonia and diarrhea.
However, there is still room for improvement in treatment of premature birth. India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and China were the five countries with the highest numbers of infant mortality caused by premature birth. Countries in West Africa, which are currently struggling to cope with the Ebola outbreak, had the highest rates of infant mortality caused by premature birth.
The researchers estimate that if these premature deaths continue at their current rate, 4.4 million children will die in the year 2030. An overwhelming 60 percent of those deaths would be concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa.
