About 128,000 babies – or 12 percent of total births – are born prematurely in Mozambique every year, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday.
UNICEF resident representative Marcoluigi Corsi said more than 10,200 of the prematurely born babies die every year.
“Prematurity is one of the top three causes of new-born deaths because premature babies have difficulty breathing, feeding and being vulnerable to cold,” Corsi said in a statement on Monday.
According to UNICEF, premature birth is a universal problem, with more than 80 percent of the cases occur in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
About 15 million out of the more than 140 million births recorded around the world every year are premature babies, which means that one out of 10 babies is premature, the UN agency notes.
Complications of premature birth are responsible for almost one million deaths each year, it said.
CM/jn/APA