Childbirth In Ethnic And Cultural Groups Essay

Discuss disparities related to ethnic and cultural groups relative to low birth weight infants and preterm births. Describe the impact of extremely low birth weight babies on the family and on the community (short-term and long-term, including economic considerations, on-going care considerations, and comorbidities associated with prematurity). Identify at least (1) support service within your community for preterm infants and their family. Provide the link for your colleagues to view. Does the service adequately address needs of this population? Explain your answer. Babies who weigh 5.5 pounds (2500grams) or less at birth are low babies with low birth weight. Babies weighing 3.3 pounds (1500 grams) or less are Very low birth weight babies. According to World Health Organization â€Å"The 30 million low-birth-weight babies born annually (23.8% of all births) often face severe short- and long-term health consequences. Low birth weight is a major determinant of mortality, morbidity and disability in infancy and childhood and also has a long-term impact on health outcomes in adult life. Low birth weight also results in substantial costs to the health sector and imposes a significant burden on society as a whole† (WHO, 2014). The infants born to non-Hispanic Black women, 3.0 percent were very low birth weight in 2008, compared to 1.2 percent of infants born to non- Hispanic White, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander women and 1.3 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native women. The rate of infant mortality (death in the first year) has fallen steadily for both blacks and whites over the past twenty-five years. In 1980, 18 out of 1,000 black singleton babies did not live to their first birthday; by 2000 that figure had fallen to 12 out of 1,000. For white babies the comparable rates were 9 out of 1,000 in 1980 and 5 out of 1,000 in 2000(Reichman, 2005).The majority of costs accrue in the first year of life and costs for rehospitalization are higher than outpatient costs. Most relevant cost components after the neonatal period are expenses for re-hospitalization, outpatient visits, pharmaceuticals, medical aids and nonmedical costs for education, travelling, accommodation, child care as well as indirect costs (mainly parental time and/or wage losses) (Hodek, Schulenburg and Mittendorf, 2011). The local or federal government ought to provide financial assistance to the families while they  are taking care of them. The Alta Bates Summit Medical Center is the local resource I found that provides information about what is premature birth, delivery of you premature infant, what to expect when you have an extremely premature infant and symptoms of the premature baby. http://www.altabatessummit.org/nicuedu/preemie.html Reference World Health Organization, 2014 Nutrition, Feto-maternal nutrition and low birth weight. Retrieved on November 25, 2014 from http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/feto_maternal/en/ Reichman N. 2005. Low Birth Weight and School Readiness Retrieved on November 25, 2014 from http://futureofchildren.org/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=38&articleid=118 §ion id=774 Hodek J., Schulenburg J., Mittendorf T., 2011 Measuring economic consequences of preterm birth Methodological recommendations for the evaluation of personal burden on children and their caregivers Retrieved on November 26, 2014 from http://www.healtheconomicsreview.com/content/1/1/6