Congo: more than 15% of babies are born premature

A report by the National Observatory of Maternal, Neonatal and Infant Deaths (Odomni 2021) published on the occasion of the commemoration of World Prematurity Day indicates that the Republic of Congo records a rate of 16.3% of premature children.

According to scientists and health workers, a premature birth occurs before the end of the pregnancy which corresponds to forty-one weeks of amenorrhea, or nine and a half months from the date of the last menstrual period.

The Minister of Health and Population, Gilbert Mokoki, also deplores the neonatal mortality rate which is twenty deaths per thousand live births and 61% of infant and child mortality.

The theme chosen for this year’s World Prematurity Day is “A parent’s embrace: a powerful therapy, allowing skin-to-skin contact from birth”.

This theme helps to raise awareness, mobilize energies to reduce the rate of premature births and offer a chance of survival to babies born prematurely.