Preterm and low birth weight infants
Preterm infants are born at less than 37 weeks gestational age and low birth weight infants are born with a birth weight below 2.5kg regardless of gestational age. An estimated 15 million newborns are born preterm and more than 20 million are born low birth weight each year. Prematurity and low birth weight remains the leading cause of death in newborns and children under-five years. Preterm and LBW infants have a higher risk of developmental disabilities including cerebral palsy and retinopathy of prematurity. The consequences of prematurity and low birth weight may continue into adulthood, increasing the risk of adult onset chronic conditions such as obesity and diabetes.
WHO’s work includes: monitoring and data; guidelines; quality of care and research
Monitoring and data
- Coordinating updates of preterm birth and LBW estimates at global, regional and national levels.
- Coordinating the development of indicators at national and subnational level to assess coverage of key interventions such as kangaroo mother care and use of antenatal corticosteroids
Related publications
Global, regional, and national estimates of levels of preterm birth in 2014: a systematic review and modelling analysis
Study protocol for WHO and UNICEF estimates of global, regional, and national preterm birth rates for 2010 to 2019
Guidelines
- Regularly updating guidelines for the care of preterm and LBW infants babies, including the use of antenatal corticosteroids, care at birth, kangaroo mother care, optimal feeding, micronutrients, respiratory care and follow up care.
- Supporting countries to implement these guidelines
Selected guidelines
Quality of care
- Working with partners to develop tools to improve health workers’ skills and to assess the quality of care provided who are preterm or low birth weight
- The WHO standards provide direction and guidance in establishing level II units for improving the quality of in-patient care for the small and sick newborns.
- Survive and thrive report outlines the global problem, showcases progress, summarizes what can be done to transform inpatient care for small and sick newborns
Key resources
Survive and thrive: transforming care for every small and sick newborn maps out a pathway towards 2030. It is built upon epidemiology, historical trends,...
Research
- Implementing research on high impact interventions to reduce preterm mortality including antenatal corticosteroids, immediate and community based kangaroo mother care
- Developing and testing simplified models to improve gestational age assessment at birth
- Developing biobanks to improve identification of biomarkers that may predict preterm birth
- Developing research studies to improve nutrition and prevent growth faltering
- Developing research studies to understand the effects of probiotics in preterm and LBW infants
The Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) Scale-up toolkit provides a set of resources and tested instruments that were developed as part of the implementation research for accelerating the scale-up of KMC in seven sites in India and Ethiopia.