Globally, 15 million babies are born preterm each year, and more than 1 million of those do not survive their first month of life. Here in Washington, more than one in every 10 babies will be born preterm – before 37 weeks gestation – increasing the chance of birth complications, developmental disabilities, and lifelong health issues like cerebral palsy, asthma, and vision and hearing problems.
Today the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth (GAPPS), an initiative of Seattle Children’s, has announced that it’s granting a total of $2.8 million to two international pregnancy research sites as part of its Preventing Preterm Birth initiative (PPB). The international sites, located in Zambia and Bangladesh, will mirror similar sites GAPPS has developed in the U.S., and will enroll women early in pregnancy and collect information and biological specimens during their pregnancies and deliveries.
The data and specimens collected for the research will be used to identify the causes of preterm birth as well as novel strategies for prevention. For more information, please refer to the press release.
Resources:
- Preventing Preterm Birth initiative
- Grand Challenges
- Seattle Children’s NICU
