Today, along with partners around the world, we recognize World Prematurity Day and the 15 million children worldwide born premature each year.

Complications from preterm birth are the leading cause of death among children under 5, claiming the lives of nearly 1 million newborns each year – 15 percent of all under-5 deaths. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia account for half the world’s births, but more than 60 percent of the world’s preterm babies and over 80 percent of the world’s newborn deaths attributable to preterm birth complications.

Preventing preterm births and treating the complications that arise from them are essential components of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) vision to end preventable child and maternal deaths within a generation. USAID works with partners in 24 priority countries around the world to identify and scale up programs and interventions that are most effective for addressing preterm birth complications.

Today, USAID’s Every Preemie SCALE project released a series of country profiles on preterm birth and low birth weight for USAID’s priority maternal and child health countries. 

Learn more

• Learn more about USAID’s work in newborn health.
• Read No Life Too Small: World Prematurity Day 2015, a blog post by Assistant Administrator Ariel Pablos-Méndez.
• Read the newly-released Every Preemie country profiles.
• Join others celebrating World Prematurity Day on Facebook.
• Follow @USAIDGH on Twitter and Facebook, and join the conversation using #WorldPrematurityDay.