EDEN Foundation Saves 20 Preterm Infants in Abuja Hospitals, Launches Kits
As part of efforts to help vulnerable preterm infants access cost-effective and lifesaving care in Nigeria, EDEN Foundation has launched her Prematurity Awareness and Prevention Program (PAPP). Through PAPP, EDEN Foundation delivers the EDEN Preterm Kit to preterm infants in public hospitals across Nigeria.
The EDEN preterm kit is a cost-effective and sustainable solution that is backed by the WHO and UNICEF survive and thrive report. It provides the essential items needed for premature babies to survive and thrive during and after being discharged from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
The foundation has helped over 100 families since inception in 2019, and on June 1 the Foundation distributed about 20 EDEN Preterm Kits to vulnerable preterm infants at National hospital and Garki hospital, Abuja.
It is a fact that prematurity is one of the leading causes of infant death in Nigeria and Sub-saharan Africa by extension, with about 871,000 babies born too soon every year. That is why the EDEN Preterm Kit addresses pressing health issues that decreases the chances of survival for preterm infants such hypothermia, breastfeeding challenges, infections, while also educating the mothers on how to care for their preterm babies beyond their hospital stay.
The founder of EDEN foundation, Kobi Ajayi said “the high rates of preterm infants in SubSaharan Africa is unacceptable,” and while addressing pressmen described the intervention as a strategic response to ensure that the rates of preventable maternal and infant death are reduced to the bare minimum in Nigeria and Sub-saharan Africa.
A father of multiple preterm babies (born at 34 weeks) at the Garki Hospital while appreciating the organization, remarked that “this is a laudable innovation from the organization, these kits would go a long way in cutting cost and reducing the financial burden of caring for his triplets while providing the basic necessities needed for them to survive”.
