More US Babies Die On Their First Day Than in 68 Other Countries, Report Shows

There is no solution for problems unknown, minimized, 
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A mother with a newborn baby in Ethiopia

By MAGGIE FOX

The U.S. is a worse place for newborns than 68 other countries, including Egypt, Turkey and Peru, according to a report released Tuesday by Save the Children.

A million babies die every year globally on the same day they were born, including more than 11,000 American newborns, the report estimates. Most of them could be saved with fairly cheap interventions, the group says.

“The birth of a child should be a time of wonder and celebration. But for millions of mothers and babies in developing countries, it is a dance with death,” the report reads. “A baby’s first day is the most dangerous day of life—in the United States and countries rich and poor,” it adds.

“The United States has the highest first-day death rate in the industrialized world. An estimated 11,300 newborn babies die each year in the United States on the day they are born. This is 50 percent more first-day deaths than all other industrialized countries combined.”

Globally, most babies who die at birth die because they were born too early – 35 percent of all newborns who die were pre-term, Save the Children finds. Another 23 percent die because of complications at birth, such as a failure to draw breath right away. Another 23 percent die from severe infections and 9 percent die because of birth defects.

The report is the first to dissect out specifically deaths on the first day of life.

Save the Children says it’s not precisely clear why the United States does so poorly in protecting newborns, but says politics and culture both play a role.

“Many babies in the United States are born too early. The U.S. preterm birth rate (1 in 8 births) is one of the highest in the industrialized world (second only to Cyprus). In fact, 130 countries from all across the world have lower preterm birth rates than the United States,” the report reads.

Teen births are partly to blame, the report says – echoing other research that has shown this. The U.S. has the highest teenage birth rate of any industrialized country.

Please continue this article here: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/more-us-babies-die-their-first-day-68-other-countries-6C9700437

More than a million babies die the same day they are born. In the U.S., 11,000 die on their birthdays, more than any other industrialized country, a new report shows.