November 17 – World Prematurity Day

World Prematurity Day was established in 2009 on the initiative of the European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants (EFCNI). It was in Vienna that the first celebration of the World Prematurity Day was held in St. Michael’s Square. University Clinic Professors Angelika Berger and Arnold Pollak launched 500 white balloons into the sky – a sign of the number of premature babies born each year. Since then, for ten years World Prematurity Day has been celebrated in European countries.

World Prematurity Day in Ternopil has been celebrated since 2016, when the first “early birds” were born in the regional perinatal center “Mother and baby”. From the very first seconds of their lives, the struggle of the doctors, relatives for their future, began. Every saved baby life is priceless!

This positive tradition is still being continued. On November 15, 2019 at the Children’s Entertainment Center “Land of Dreams”, a holiday for children rescue by love was organized.

A good tradition has become the celebration of the World Prematurity Day, for the representatives of the International Students’ Faculty of Ternopil National Medical. Medical students, along with the babies, their parents, animators and the doctors of the Regional Prenatal Center, created a wonderful holiday atmosphere with the help of interesting games, music, dancing with the children, sweets, colored balloons.

The idea behind this celebration is to inform the society and the public about the dangers and consequences of preterm birth, the need to address the pressing issues which physicians and families of premature babies face, to help families find support and understanding.

Almost 15 million children are born prematurely each year in the world, which means that in average every tenth child is born prematurely. At the same time, a huge number of premature newborns have been raised not only healthy and full-fledged, but also an outstanding people!

Great love, true faith, daily hard work of doctors and parents can do wonders.