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Premature Babies
India's demographic health survey 2019-21 reveals that 13 per cent of children were born prematurely, and 17 per cent with a low weight at birth, with air pollution contributing to the adverse birth outcomes. Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, and institutes in the UK and Ireland looked at the National Family Health Survey-5 and remote sensing data to analyse how exposure to air pollution in pregnancy impacted the delivery outcomes. The team found that an increased exposure to PM2.5 during pregnancy was related with a 40 per cent chance of low birth weight, and 70 per cent of premature delivery. Climate conditions, such as rainfall and temperature, were found to have a greater link with adverse birth outcomes. The study, published in the journal PLoS Global Public Health, also found that children living in the northern districts of India could be more vulnerable to the ambient air pollution. Measurin
A premature baby squirms inside a glass incubator in the neonatal ward of al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza Strip. He cries out as intravenous lines are connected to his tiny body. A ventilator helps him breathe as a catheter delivers medication and monitors flash his fragile vital signs. His life hinges on the constant flow of electricity, which is in danger of running out imminently unless the hospital can get more fuel for its generators. Once the generators stop, hospital director Iyad Abu Zahar fears that the babies in the ward, unable to breathe on their own, will perish. The responsibility on us is huge, he said. Doctors treating premature babies across Gaza are grappling with similar fears. At least 130 premature babies are at grave risk across six neonatal units, aid workers said. The dangerous fuel shortages are caused by the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which started along with airstrikes after Hamas militants attacked Israeli towns on October 7. At least 50,000 pregn
India recorded 3.02 million preterm births in 2020 -- the highest worldwide -- accounting for over 20 per cent of all preterm births globally, according to a study published in the The Lancet journal. The research by authors from the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, showed that over 50 per cent of all preterm births in 2020 occurred in just eight countries. India was followed by Pakistan, Nigeria, China, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of the Congo and the US, the researchers said. The high numbers of preterm births in these countries and areas are, in part, a reflection of their large population sizes, high numbers of total births, and weaker health systems that are unable to deliver high-quality family planning, antenatal care, and childbirth services to all individuals who need them, they said. Globally, an estimated 13.4 million babies were born early in 2020, with
Nurse Lucy Letby was on Monday sentenced to a whole-life term by a UK court for killing seven babies and attempting to murder at least six others while working at a hospital in northern England. Justice James Goss removed any early release provisions from the whole-life sentence, saying the seriousness of her crimes meant that the 33-year-old will spend the rest of her life behind bars. Letby was last week found guilty of the murder of seven newborn babies and also found guilty of seven counts of attempted murder relating to six other babies. In his sentencing remarks, Justice Goss said the nurse had acted in "gross breach of trust and with premeditation, calculation and cunning as he handed down the tough custodial sentence at Manchester Crown Court. "You acted in a way that was completely contrary to the normal human instincts of nurturing and caring for babies and in gross breach of the trust that all citizens place in those who work in the medical and caring professions, the .