World Prematurity Day 2024
The number of births in Romania is dropping alarmingly, and parents demand “Access to QUALITY medical care for their children”
The National Day of the Premature Child in Romania was established by Law no. 189/2020. The law stipulates that, in the week that includes November 17 (Day of Prematurity), the Ministry of Health must present to the health committees of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies a report on the situation of premature children in Romania, as well as the progress made in this field.
ARNIS – the Romanian Association for Long-term Hospitalized Newborns, has been marking this day of interest in Romania since 2013. The World Prematurity Day has been implemented since 2011 by EFCNI – European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants, of which ARNIS has been a part since 2013.
STATISTICAL DATA: BIRTH, PREMATURE AND INFANT MORTALITY
The number of children born alive in Romania in 2023 is 155,418. This has decreased by more than 50% compared to the level of 1990, when 314,746 live newborns were registered, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
Figures from the latest Eurostat report show that in 2022, out of a total of 153,397 live newborns, the number of babies born prematurely (between 21 and 37 weeks) was 16,053. Also here we find data on birth weight and we learn that 3 of the premature babies were under 500 g. The rate of prematurity in Romania remains high, 10% of the total number of live newborns.
According to the INS reports for 2023, the infant mortality rate in 2023 for children under 1 year is 5.8‰. A number of 900 children died in the first year of life (2023) due to problems in pregnancy and birth: Some conditions whose origin lies in the perinatal period (344), Obstetrical trauma (1), Fetal and neonatal haemorrhages (106), Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal anomalies (233), Congenital malformations of the circulatory system (122).
ARNIS CAMPAIGN for the World Prematurity Day 2024
ARNIS joined the EFCNI Campaign again this year, with the slogan “Access to quality medical care anywhere! Over 13 million babies are born prematurely every year.”
“Together with our sponsors and donors, we continue in 2024 the tradition of being with the families of long-term hospitalized newborns, on the occasion of the World Prematurity Day!
ARNIS donated 3 transport incubators, 2 medical chairs for skin-to-skin care (kangaroo care) to increase the quality of medical care, organized workshops for parents in 10 neonatal intensive care units to support families, and engaged 100 volunteers to make 1100 incubator dolls, donated to these maternity hospitals, as an action to raise awareness of the prematurity cause.
The grateful smiles on parents faces, the good communication that is established between the parents and the medical staff, motivates us to continue,” said Corina Croitoru, president and founding member of ARNIS.
Donation of 3 transport incubators in 3 hospitals
In 2024, 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Units, the “Nicolae Malaxa” Clinic Hospital Bucharest, the Slobozia Emergency County Clinical Hospital and the Satu Mate Emergency County Hospital each benefited from the donation of a high-performance transportation incubator, vital equipment for Neonatal Intensive Care Units Level 2. In the wards of these 3 hospitals, only newborns over 32 gestational weeks can be cared for. Severe cases and newborns with a gestational age of less than 32 weeks are transferred to Level 3 Neonatal Units.
These 3 transport incubators will ensure access to quality medical care for vulnerable newborns, in conditions of maximum safety for their health. The 3 hospitals were selected according to the need and urgency of equipping with new equipment.
Donation of 2 chairs for medical use at SUUB
Starting from 2024, the Bucharest Emergency University Hospital – SUUB, Department of Neonatology, entered the project “Little humans in therapy”, to increase the quality of medical care for long-term hospitalized newborns: Family and Infant Neurodevelopmental Care Education Programme. ARNIS organized the training session for 24 doctors and nurses from this hospital, and continued with support for the implementation of the skin-to-skin practice (kangaroo mother care) by donating 2 recliner chairs, for hospital use, so that parents and babies to be able to practice this type of care in safe and comfortable conditions.
Workshops in hospital for mothers from 10 hospitals
ARNIS organized a volunteering activity with more then 100 people, employees of 4 large companies in Romania. Together they made 1100 incubator dolls, in “Embrace a premature” campaign. The 1100 were distributed in 10 hospitals, level 3 NICUs, where premature babies from 23 weeks gestation are cared for. The objects were, of course, subjected to a proper sterilization process before reaching the newborns.
To celebrate the World Prematurity Day, every year around November 17, ARNIS organizes actions in hospitals for mothers of children who struggle day by day to adapt to life. In the same 10 hospitals where the incubator dolls were donated, mothers had the chance to participate in workshops to make their own doll, their baby’s first toy. The incubator doll has the role of being a companion of the newborn bringing the smell of the mother’s milk close and helping him to self-regulate and cope more easily with painful medical procedures, necessary for survival.
The beneficiary hospitals of the 2024 “Embrace a premature” campaign are: Bucharest University Emergency Hospital, OG Filantropia Clinical Hospital Bucharest, Clinical Hospital “Prof. Dr. Panait Sârbu” – Giulești Maternity Hospital, Clinical Hospital “Prof. Dr. Ioan Cantacuzino” Bucharest, Emergency Clinical Hospital “St. Ioan” Bucharest – Bucur Maternity Hospital, Oradea County Emergency Clinical Hospital, Iasi County Emergency Clinical Hospital – Cuza-Vodă Maternity Hospital, Târgu Mureș County Emergency Clinical Hospital, Cluj County Emergency Clinical Hospital – Neonatology 1 and 2 Maternity Hospitals from Chisinau, Republic of Moldova.
Volunteers in the campaign were the employees of P&G, Pampers, Adobe Romania, Oracle Romania and Synevo Romania.
Sponsors of the campaign dedicated to the World Prematurity Day – ARNIS 2024: P&G, Pampers, Adobe Romania, Chiesi Romania.
About ARNIS
ARNIS is the Romanian Association for Long-Term Hospitalized Newborns and represents the voice of patients with birth conditions in Romania since 2013. The mission of ARNIS is to improve the health of long-term hospitalized newborns in Romania through prevention, information and civil society education projects regarding premature birth, the implementation of the principles of Family Centered Care in neonatal intensive therapies and the alignment of the National Standards with the level of the European Care Standards developed by EFCNI, as well as providing support to their families in the medical recovery process of children, up to the age of 18. For more information go to https://arnis.ong/
Donations in the benefit of children born prematurely can be made in the accounts of the Romanian Association for Long-Term Hospitalized Newborns – ARNIS, open at ING Bank NV Amsterdam Bucharest Branch, in LEI: RO07INGB0000999904198945 and EURO: RO77INGB0000999903935106