Coalition for Prematurity has been supporting premature babies for 10 years

- When we established the Coalition for the Premature Infant, I didn't think that we would create such a great organization that would be a partner in dialogue with policy makers and the medical community. We have succeeded. In addition, we have created a community with parents of premature babies and are in contact with them every day through social media. We educate parents of premature babies on how to care for and support their babies' development, as well as neonatology staff on how to communicate with parents of premature babies. The guidebooks we prepare and publish are very popular. We also support neonatologists in Ukraine by conducting trainings and webinars for them. The past year has shown that we can count on many organizations and people of good will who have united to help our friends in Ukraine. The campaigns we ran exceeded our expectations. We thank you all very much for your support and kind words. Thanks to you, we know that our actions make sense," said Prof. Maria Katarzyna Borszewska-Kornacka, president of the Coalition for Prematurity Foundation.

The Coalition for the Premature Child set itself five goals to achieve 10 years ago. The first was to support the neonatal community in its efforts to introduce a program of comprehensive care for children born prematurely, allowing increased access to modern, multi-specialist care immediately after birth and
after leaving the hospital. Another was to make the public aware that the problems of children born prematurely and their parents are important and solvable. A third goal was to undertake educational activities, aimed at parents, on proper developmental stimulation and rehabilitation of children. The coalition's ambition was also to prevent the development of infections, especially of the respiratory system, and to promote a correct model of nutrition for prematurely born children - breast milk was promoted as a medicine to stimulate normal psychomotor development.

Most of these goals have been met. Meanwhile, 70 premature babies are born every day in Poland, and their parents need knowledge and support.

- The pilot program of coordinated care is thanks to the national consultant in neonatology, Prof. Ewa Helwich, and her cooperation with the Ministry of Health, as an organization working for the benefit of premature babies, we are very grateful that it was possible to implement this program, and we hope that coordinated care will soon become a standard throughout Poland. As of this year, the RSV infection prevention program is one of the best in Europe and more children have joined it, we have been educating parents of premature babies about care, care of their children, stimulation and support of development for 10 years, and we have been telling the public about the needs and problems of premature babies. So, we are gradually achieving the goals we set 10 years ago. We are very happy and thank everyone who helps us realize them," said Elżbieta Brzozowska, vice president of the Coalition for Prematurity Foundation.

The celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Coalition for Prematurity was accompanied by the presentation of "Angels of Prematurity" statues. They were given to people who have made special contributions to improving the care of premature babies and spreading awareness of the smallest of the young. Among those honored were our editorial colleagues: editor-in-chief of Medexpress, Iwona Schymalla, and deputy editor-in-chief, Edyta Hetmanowska.