Dr Miranda Apo-era, Medical Doctor at the Newborn Care Unit (NBCU) of the Upper East Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga, has advocated continuous specialised care for preterm babies.

She said such babies needed an intense, high level of care for their survival, called for support from stakeholders including family members, and insisted that “Preterm babies need very special attention to survive and so, all the support from stakeholders is welcomed.”

Dr Apo-era was speaking at the climax of this year’s prematurity awareness month organized by the NBCU with support from the management of the hospital.

World Prematurity Day is celebrated annually on November 17; however, the entire month was used to raise awareness about infants born prematurely and the difficulties they face.

The theme for the celebration: “Breaking Barriers, Access to Quality Care Everywhere,” brought together staff of the hospital, officials from the Midwifery Training College in Bolgatanga, and parents of surviving preterm babies among other stakeholders.

Dr Apo-era explained that premature birth is when a baby is born before a 37-week gestation period, and said globally, one in 10 babies were born preterm.

“The story is not different here at the NBCU of the Upper East Regional Hospital. The good news is that, with access to quality health care, survival rates for babies born too soon have significantly increased over the past years,” she noted.

Dr Apo-era said as part of the celebration, the hospital’s NBCU in collaboration with all NBCUs in the Region, organized mass education at Out-Patient Departments and maternity units of various hospitals, and on radio to sensitize members of the public on preterm delivery and the need to care for preterm babies.

The Medical Doctor further emphasized that “being born too soon is not a death sentence,” and encouraged parents and family members not to despair but to pay special attention to women who delivered such babies.

She acknowledged that even though stakeholders had over the years supported the Unit, “We still need support in the form of incubators, phototherapy machines, radiant warmers, Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines just to mention a few, to ensure our babies who are born before term survive.”

Dr Margaret Wekem Kukeba, the Dean, the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the Clement Kubindiwo Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS) in Navrongo, who chaired the programme, called for effective collaboration between stakeholders for the survival of preterm babies.

She reiterated: “I want to encourage all of us to go out there and be advocates for the care of premature children,” noting that, though the care of preterm babies was not an easy task, the struggle was worth the effort.

Parents of babies delivered preterm, who shared their experiences at the programme, expressed gratitude to God and acknowledged the support of their family members and the NBCU staff to the survival of their babies.

They also called on family members, especially husbands and mothers-in-law to support their expectant mothers who delivered preterm babies and not despise them.