World Prematurity Day is celebrated on 17 November

World Prematurity Day is celebrated on 17 November around the world. It aims to call attention to premature babies and their families. Every year, 15 million babies are born prematurely around the world and this day is celebrated in more than 60 countries.

4000 children are born in the maternity ward of East Tallinn Central Hospital on average every year. 300-360 of those are born prematurely. These are babies who arrive at the neonatology department for medical care in their first hours of life.

According to Dr Pille Andresson, Head of the Department of Neonatology at East Tallinn Central Hospital, fast, modern and high-quality care is essential for premature births. “We can arrange all the treatment on site – we have up-to-date equipment and competent and experienced staff who have undergone special training.”

Even though the theme for World Prematurity Day 2021 is ‘Zero Separation. Act now! Keep parents and babies born too soon together’, East Tallinn Central Hospital has been providing this opportunity for years.

Our maternity ward values family-centric intensive care, involving the family members in the treatment process after their premature baby is born. Families have the chance to be with their newborn from day one. “All of the sophisticated equipment required to help premature babies has now been moved to the family room to enable parents to stay with their babies if they wish. 95% of families use this option,” says Dr Andresson.

Neonatal intensive care is one of the fastest developing and evolving fields of medicine worldwide. In Estonia, all babies born prematurely are referred for treatment, and neonatal mortality has been reduced to virtually zero. According to Dr Andresson, 90-92% of all babies born prematurely and referred for treatment survive. This is a very good result compared with other European countries. In 2002, the proportion of extremely premature newborns at East Tallinn Central Hospital who survived the end of their first hospital stay without illness was 37.4%; today it is 78%.

East Tallinn Central Hospital is also home to the Breast Milk Bank, which is the only one of its kind in Estonia and is designed to provide optimal support for the development of premature babies. Thanks to the Breast Milk Bank, all premature babies can get breast milk immediately after birth until their mother starts producing her own milk.

The birth of an extremely premature baby is also of great concern for parents. Treating a child can be very difficult and time consuming as well as financially and psychologically exhausting.

One of the ways of drawing attention to the problems and needs of premature babies and their parents and loved ones is to dress buildings in the colour purple. Once again, the maternity ward of East Tallinn Central Hospital will be dressed in the colour purple. This is the colour of prematurity, symbolising fragility and uniqueness.