World Prematurity Day

Overview

• When is World Prematurity Day? On the 17th of November, the whole world marks World Prematurity Day. It is one of the most important days in the year to help raise awareness of the challenges and burden of preterm birth globally. It was first celebrated in 2008, being initiated by the European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants (EFCNI) and partnering European parent organisations¹.

• Why the 17th of November? It was on this day when one of the founding members of EFCNI became a proud father of a daughter, after having lost his triplets due to preterm birth. A new awareness day was born¹.

• The typical symbols of World Prematurity Day are the socks line and purple lightings. The purple colour in the visual identity stands for sensitivity and exceptionality¹.

Preterm birth is truly a global occurrence. Every year, 5-18% of babies are born prematurely, resulting in an estimated 15 million preterm births per year². Babies born prematurely face higher health risks, with physical and neurodevelopmental disabilities both short- and long-term. All of them require extensive, special care simply to remain alive, putting a heavy burden on their family, health services and economy³.

Nestlé is committed to helping preterm babies, their families, and their health care professionals through our continued investment in research and the development of state-of-the-art, clinically proven nutritional solutions tailored to their specific needs both in hospital and after discharge.

Join us in marking World Prematurity Day on 17th November 2023!

We thank you for your continuous quality care towards all premature babies and look forward to working together for a brighter future for them.

European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants (EFCNI)

The aim of EFCNI is to improve the situation of parents and newborn infants. The vision of EFCNI is to give every child the best start in life. Nestlé Nutrition is an exclusive global nutrition partner of EFCNI. This global partnership with EFCNI on WPD aims to further raise awareness of this cause.

For further information: www.efcni.org

Other resources to support healthcare professionals in the care of preterm births

Our preterm hub has been created to provide you with information relating to the nutritional management of preterm infants, including webinars, infographics and articles, below you will find examples of each or visit our preterm hub here .