Motsoaledi announces new programmes to reduce premature births
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Thursday marked World Prematurity Day, announcing new programmes aimed at reducing premature births and child mortality. One of these is the extension of MomConnect, an SMS-based service aimed at providing information to pregnant women, new mothers and nurses about pregnancy, childbirth and the first year of life of a baby. The service also encourages mothers to book antenatal consultations as early as possible in their pregnancies. Globally, an estimated 15-million babies are born preterm every year, and this number is increasing, according to the World Health Organisation. Prematurity is when a child is born at less than 37 weeks’ gestation. Preterm births are the leading cause of neonatal mortality, with about 11,000 babies dying in the first month of life in SA. The Department of Health used Thursday’s event to celebrate having had 1-million mothers joining the MomConnect platform that was started in August 2014. MomConnect provides mothers wi...
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