A one million dollar grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has been given to the Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute to fund investigations into new avenues for research on the prevention of prematurity and stillbirth. Researchers will review current published literature, and Seattle Children’s Hospital will also use the funds to host an international summit in Seattle in 2009 to bring together the world’s foremost experts in this field.

Prematurity claims the lives of 10,ooo babies in the US and over a million babies worldwide each year. Stillbirth claims an additional 3 million lives globally each year, and many of the causes of stillbirth and prematurity are thought to be related.

Through their investigations into published research and the input of experts at the summit, Seattle researchers hope to identify a list of critical research topics for the future. The funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will also help establish partnerships between the Office for Prevention of Prematurity and Stillbirths at Children’s and organizations like UNICEF and the March of Dimes.

As a parent of a preemie, I sincerely hope these funds are put to good use in addressing this critical and expensive health issue. Something needs to be done to halt the climbing rate of premature births in the US. Prematurity is the second leading cause of all infant mortality in the US and causes half of all pediatric neurodevelopmental conditions. At a rate of 1 in 8 US births, the rate of premature births is more than 18 times higher than the rate of autism spectrum disorders (1 in 150 US children), yet sadly, it receives significantly less press coverage.

I’ll be wishing for productivity, creativity and success for all the researchers involved in this endeavor.

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