Born too soon: decade of action on preterm birth

Worldwide, 1 in 10 babies is born preterm (<37 weeks’ gestation) – that’s an estimated one baby every two seconds (1). Rates of preterm birth have barely changed during the past decade, and in some places rates are rising. In 2020 it is estimated that nearly 1 million newborns died due to complications of preterm birth (one baby every 40 seconds) and millions more survive with disabilities that follow them and their families throughout their lives. Preterm birth is the single largest killer of children under 5 years of age, accounting for more than one in three of all neonatal deaths (first month of life) (2), and neonatal conditions are the leading cause of lost human capital in the most recent estimates of the global burden of disease, unchanged since 1990.