Title:
Simple, Low-Cost Ways to Cut the Risk of an Early
Birth
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Technology Report.
See text below
Text:
We talked last week about a new report on preterm
births the leading cause of death in newborn babies
worldwide.
Each year an estimated thirteen million babies are
born too soon. More than one million of them die as
a result of their prematurity. Yet experts say many
early births can be prevented.
The report came from the March of Dimes and the
World Health Organization. Christopher Howson is the
vice president for global programs at the March of
Dimes, a nonprofit group. He says there are a number
of simple, low-cost interventions that can improve
the chances of a full-term birth.
Mister Howson said: "We should treat malnutrition in
women both before and during pregnancy. We should
treat infections that increase risk. We should
monitor pregnancies carefully for signs of trouble.
And should that baby be born preterm, we should care
for that baby by providing a package of
interventions that have been shown to be tried and
true and very effective."
For example, there are programs in Africa that teach
the skin-to-skin method, also known as kangaroo
care. Mothers learn to carry preterm babies in front
instead of the traditional African way of carrying a
baby on the mother's back. Skin-to-skin helps keep a
preterm baby warm and makes it easier for the baby
to breastfeed.
Most preterm births take place in Africa and Asia.
But rates in the United States have increased by
more than one-third in the last twenty-five years.
Alan Fleischman is the medical director of the March
of Dimes. He was among a group of medical experts
who met in Washington, D.C., in October.
The group met to develop a plan for dealing with the
problem in the United States. Doctor Fleischman says
there is concern especially about rising numbers of
what are known as late preterm births.
Those are the babies who are born between
thirty-four and thirty-seven weeks of pregnancy.
They are responsible for seventy-two percent of all
premature births in America.
The rise of these births may be linked to increased
use of drugs to start or speed up labor and more
births by Cesarean section. Doctor Fleischman says
the group strongly advises against these
interventions before thirty-nine weeks unless
medically necessary. The experts also say doctors
need to work with pregnant women to do a better job
of estimating exactly when a pregnancy began.
And that's the VOA Special English Development
Report.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
