Each year, 15 million babies around the world are born prematurely, and 1 million of those die as a result of their preterm birth  New findings highlight how even in countries like the US – where we often hear about “million dollar babies” – preterm birth is a huge challenge as public health and clinical experts work to help every child reach his or her fifth birthday and beyond.

Born Too Soon: The Global Action Report on Preterm Birth provides the first-ever national, regional and global estimates of preterm birth. The report shows the extent to which preterm birth is on the rise in most countries, and is now the second leading cause of death globally for children under five, after pneumonia.

Addressing preterm birth is now an urgent priority for reaching Millennium Development Goal 4, calling for the reduction of child deaths by two-thirds by 2015. This report shows that rapid change is possible and identifies priority actions for everyone.

The report is a joint effort of almost 50 international, regional and national organizations, led by the March of Dimes, The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, Save the Children and the World Health Organization in support of the Every Woman Every Child effort, launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. 

You can access the report and other key resources on the following sites:

• Full Report, Executive Summary (En, Fr. Ch), Press Release (En, Fr, Sp, Ch, Ar, Ru), Country Ranking Tables, and Author-Reviewer List.
• Related materials and interactive map of preterm births.
• Every Woman Every Child commitments to preterm birth.