Mexico's Ministry of Health recommends women lead a healthier life and receive quality care during pregnancy to help make gestation a positive experience for the family.
Even though the exact causes are unknown, premature birth risk factors may be gestational diabetes, smoking, drinking alcohol, using drugs and even stress.
The Ministry of Health specifies that a premature birth is born before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy, while a full-term pregnancy is 40 weeks.
Preemies
are not fully ready for life outside the womb, since they usually weight less, lose heat more easily, have feeding and breathing difficulties, and they are susceptible to infections.
There are sub-categories of preterm birth, based on gestational age: extremely preterm (less than 28 weeks), very preterm (28 to 32 weeks), and moderate to late preterm (32 to 37 weeks).
According to the World Health Organization ( WHO ), an estimated 15 million babies are born too early every year, and approximately 1 million children die each year due to complications of preterm birth.
Globally, prematurity is the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5 years, and in almost all countries with reliable data, preterm birth rates are increasing.
Particularly, in Mexico, there are more than 200,000 premature births annually, according to the Ministry of Health.
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