Georgia’s premature birth rate is going up, recent statistics show.
And it’s no coincidence that the state also has high rates of infant mortality and low birthweight babies.
Merrilee Gober, a nurse who is a board member of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia, says preterm births and their consequences don’t pose just a humanitarian problem but also an economic one.
Low birthweight babies can each cost more than $50,000 in their first year of life, she writes in a new GHN Commentary. “Those who survive are more likely to face problems in life,’’ she adds.
Gober outlines several steps that can be taken to assure that more Georgia babies are delivered at full term.