Infant Death Too many children still die during childbirth

Expert: Number of infants who die at birth could be significantly reduced
In Germany too many babies are dying at birth. With targeted measures, however, the number can be significantly reduced, emphasizes the pediatrician Rainer Rossi in an interview with the news magazine "Der Spiegel". In his view, the high number of small hospitals leads to the malady. Achieving medical care to the level in Sweden and Finland would kill up to 800 infants and 25 fewer mothers each year, according to the board member of the German Society for Perinatal Medicine.

Image: RioPatuca Images - fotolia

In Germany every year, the lives of 800 babies could be saved by better medical care at birth
Rossi wants to demand a national plan against child and maternal mortality in the coming week within the framework of the meeting of the pediatric and youth physicians. "Compared to Sweden and Finland, there are too many birth deaths. If we were as good as the Scandinavians, up to 800 infants and 25 mothers would die each year, "Rossi told the news magazine. The expert attributes the shortage of care to the high number of small hospitals. For example, around 16,000 births would be cared for in a Swedish perinatal center. In Germany, the ratio is only 1 to 4,000 births. At first, there is nothing to complain about, Rossi continued. "However, that means that the small houses can not gather enough, sometimes vital, experience. We've gotten better in Germany, but are still lagging behind - and have higher infrastructure costs. "

According to the pediatrician, we needed "a political hospital planning and can no longer leave the medical supply alone to the market alone - this is also a demand of the OECD." The goal is, in the coming years with the northern neighboring countries to catch up. (Ag)