India Is Now the World's Leading Contributor of Premature Deliveries

Bangalore:   India is one such country where the rate of premature births is tremendously rising and today, around 21 percent of its babies are delivered prematurely, according to a report released recently. The report further suggested that the numbers are rising both in rural as well as urban areas. As such, India has the highest number of premature births, and ranks 1^st in the list of pre-term births that contributes 60 percent of the global premature deliveries, reports Rupali Mukherjee of TOI.

As per the report, prematurity is believed to be the primary cause of new-born deaths and morbidity in India. Every year around 15 million babies are born premature and out of which 1 million babies pass away from complications arising out of prematurity, says WHO factsheet (2012).


Lata Bhat, head of the neonatology department at Fortis hospital said, "The paradigm of premature deliveries in India is changing and it has become a disease of the marginalised as well as the affluent," reports IANS. Around three lakh pre-term babies die annually in India, Bhat added.

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