University Hospital Sharjah, one of the largest specialized hospitals in the region, hosted a range of awareness activities to mark World Prematurity Day, an international campaign launched by the World Health Organization to raise awareness about the complications of preterm birth, which affects 13-15 million babies every year. The awareness activities were supervised by the neonatal unit staff chaired by Professor Hakam Yaseen.
The initiative, which is part of the UHS’s annual awareness programs that cover all medical disciplines with a particular focus on children care, aimed to raise awareness about the risk factors of premature birth and highlight efforts to prevent it. The awareness activities introduced treatment and care methods, and highlighted how women can have access to improve care during pregnancy to reduce preterm birth (before 37 completed weeks of gestation).

Commencing the activities, HE Abdulla Al Mahyan, UHS Chairman, emphasised the importance of creating awareness around measures to lower and treat the complications associated with premature birth, remarking, “Preterm birth and the high rate of mortality as well the long lasting negative effects often associated with it is a problem that we cannot afford to ignore, especially when you take into consideration that three quarters of these deaths could have been prevented with current, cost effective interventions. Which is why events such as this one today are so important. There are real and viable solutions available to this problem, our responsibility as a medical community is to make sure that those solutions are implemented in every possible way.”
Speaking on the occasion, Michael Stroud, CEO of UHS, said: “Preterm birth rate is rising, according to statistics issued by the World Health Organization. We were keen to make parents aware of information about how to care for and manage their preterm babies. Awareness sessions were presented by prominent experts from our hospital. Doctors demonstrated cases of premature babies who were born after 24 weeks of gestations. They gave tips on how to deal with premature babies, weighing 600 grams and above. Doctors also presented surgeries offered by our hospital to preterm babies, such as neonatal intestinal surgeries, neonatal respiratory system surgeries, hiatus hernia, kidney problems, and others”.
At the beginning of the session, Prof. Hakam Yaseen, Consultant of Neonatology and Pediatrics, UHS Medical Director, gave a preview about the role of UHS in premature baby care over the last three years. He said: “Through this activity, we are keen to support parents’ self-confidence in dealing with their preterm babies, to encourage them to bear with much patience the vulnerable condition of their premature babies and to respond properly to any emergency case”.

During the event, a female student of Medicine, a survivor of premature birth, shared her story about how she survived and now leads a very normal life thanks to her parents’ care and awareness. Following that, a mother and father shared their experience of having a premature baby, describing how the baby was given enough care to survive. UHS emphasized that such stories will help spread awareness and hope among attendees on how to deal with their premature babies appropriately.
The Paediatric Unit and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the UHS has admitted premature babies with complex conditions and performed about six complex surgeries for such cases as intestinal perforation, ischaemic intestinal disease, and others. The hospital is a pioneer in using nitric oxide to treat respiratory distresses in newborn babies. The above surgeries were performed successfully at the UHS, and babies were soon discharged with a stable condition.