Every year, an estimated 1 in 10 babies is born prematurely, which amounts to approximately 1.2 million children in the Region of the Americas.
Prematurity, defined as birth before the 37th week of gestation, is one of the leading causes of neonatal mortality, morbidity, and disability. Newborns face a significantly higher risk of complications — from breathing difficulties, infections, and poor growth to delays in neurological, school, and lifelong development.
Based on the best available scientific evidence, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) recommends the content of information for families before hospital discharge.
When it is not possible to avoid preterm birth, the most beneficial interventions are those that can increase the chances of survival and improve health outcomes for premature infants.
These interventions are provided to mothers shortly before or during delivery to prevent immediate or future health-related problems in the premature newborn, such as lung immaturity, susceptibility to infection, and neurological complications.
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is the leading cause of preventable blindness in childhood. Managing ROP is a priority policy to reduce its prevalence and promote eye health.
Newborns, and children deserve safe care tailored to every stage of their lives.
Health professionals: your role is key to preventing avoidable harm.
Families play a key role in ensuring that newborns and children receive safe health care.
Mothers, fathers, and caregivers can contribute by keeping records of medications and symptoms, staying informed, asking questions, and voicing any concerns.
Join the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for a regional webinar to mark World Patient Safety Day 2025 under the slogan “Patient safety from the start!”.
On World Patient Safety Day, it’s critical to highlight the need for safe care from the very beginning of life. Newborns and children require care tailored to their age, weight, developmental stage, health needs, and social context to prevent avoidable harm.
Every child and every newborn have the right to safe, quality health care from day one.
A single safety incident can have lifelong consequences for a child’s health and development.
Join the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for a regional webinar to mark World Patient Safety Day 2025 under the slogan “Patient safety from the start!”.
When: 23 September 2025
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (EDT)
The equipment used in transport must comply with several general characteristics:
• Appropriate for the age group and for the health problems to be managed.
• Lightweight, portable, rugged and easy to clean
• It must be securely fastened in the transport vehicle for patient and equipment safety.
• Tested in transport conditions (temperature, altitude, vibration).
It is essential to have equipment that allows for:
To establish lactation when an extremely premature birth occurs, it is important:
1) Manually expressing colostrum, within the first three hours after birth, initiates the milk production process and has several benefits:
- It empties the mammary gland which, together with the action of the hormones that promote labor and delivery, are a powerful stimulus to initiate milk production.