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Seven out of every hundred Argentinean babies weigh less than 2,500 grams at birth, the World Health Organization (WHO), which systematically badyzed 281 million births in 148 countries for the first time.
The agency has prepared the report in collaboration with Unicef and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). The results were published in the journal The lancet.
The report says that in 2015, 753,600 live babies were born in Argentina. Of these, 55,400 had "low birth weight", that is, they were born with less than 2,500 grams. This represents 7.3% of cases.
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If we compare it to the rest of the world, our figure is better than that of Brazil (8.4%) and the United States (8%) and is similar to that of a high-income country like the United Kingdom. United (7%). ). Although it is lower than Australia (6.5%) or neighboring Chile (6.2%) and far from Sweden (2.4%).
Does this mean that "we are not so bad"? It is not like that. Consulted by ClarinAna Quiroga, director of the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences at the Southern University of Neonatal Nursing, explains that "the statistics on children born of low birth weight in our country are the same as in the world." Prematurity is something that you can not go down everywhere. "
A woman hugs her son in a neonatal intensive care unit in Hungary (EFE).
"The causes of prematurity are telling the world because they are the most important component of infant mortality.No cause can be removed, but there are several risk factors, such as the history of another pregnancy. premature pregnancy, teenage pregnancy, smoking, and alcohol consumption. "
Quiroga also pointed out "the survival" key factor, "because the born boy with low weight needs intensive neonatal care". In this register, there could be a difference between the different countries (developed and undeveloped) and even inequality within the different provinces of Argentina.
According to the WHO document, more than 80% of the 2.5 million newborns in the world who die each year are underweight at birth because they are born prematurely and / or small for their gestational age.
"In Argentina, 99.9% of children are born in institutions, while the number of home births is very low, so the data are accurate," said the National Director of Maternity, Childbirth and Childbirth. childhood and adolescence at the Telam agency. from the Department of Health and Social Development, Diana Fariña.
The manager explained the percentages of children with low birth weight between 2013 and 2017, according to data from this ministry: 7.3% in 2013, 7.1% in 2014 and 2015, 7.2% in 2016 and 7.3% in 2017.
Born at 24 weeks of gestation and only 268 grams in weight, this Japanese baby is considered the world's smallest to survive a premature birth (EFE).
"We are oscillating between 7 and 8 %.We know that this is a figure that can be improved, especially variables such as the incidence of caesarean section, which increases, or teenage pregnancy, two causes of prematurity, which are slowly decreasing, "Fariña explained. .
He added: "Another aspect that we should improve is the contact with the first level of attention in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy: we know that 43% of pregnant women treated in the public system comply with this, but we do not have records of private records because they do not report them ".
The WHO report badyzed 148 countries between 2000 and 2015. It concluded that 20 million babies were born underweight in 2015, about one in seven births worldwide.
It shows that the global prevalence of low birth weight "decreased" slightly from 17.5% in 2000 (22.9 million live births with low birth weight) to 14.6% in 2015. (20.5 million). However, the authors say that the problem "is always important".
"Our estimates indicate that national governments do very little to reduce birth weight, even in high-income countries where prematurity (births before 37 weeks of pregnancy) is due to maternal age, smoking, unspecified caesarean section, and fertility treatments that increase the risk of multiple births. " he said, the principal author, Hannah Blencowe, of LSHTM.
The badysis indicates that the 195 Member States of the organization pledged in 2012 to reduce by 30% the prevalence of low birth weight by 2025.
Julia Krasevec, co-author of the study and specialist in statistics and surveillance of UNICEF, recalled that "all newborns must be heavy and yet, in the world, we do not have to be heavy. have no record of nearly a third of them ".
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