A world-first initiative modelled on a pioneering program delivered in Western Australia has seen around 4000 fewer babies being born preterm across the country each year.
New data has shown the comprehensive preterm birth prevention program, launched by the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance, has led to a significant decrease in rates of potentially harmful early birth and improved pregnancy outcomes for women across the country.
Published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health, the study presented detailed outcomes from the six-year program first introduced in mid-2018.
Preterm birth, defined as birth before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy, remains a leading cause of death and long-term disability in children worldwide.
The Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance launched its program in response to rising rates of potentially harmful early birth across the country.
The Alliance champions key strategies such as supporting pregnancies to at least 39 weeks unless there is obstetric or medical justification, the measurement of the length of the cervix at all mid-pregnancy scans, and the use of natural vagina progesterone if the length of cervix is less than 25mm.
Professor of Obstetrics at UWA and Chair of the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance Professor John Newnham said: “From 2018-2021, broad implementation of preterm birth prevention strategies across the country through the Alliance were found to have lowered the rate of preterm birth by 10%.
“These strategies were chosen for their high evidential basis of their effectiveness and suitability for the Australian healthcare environment.
“In 2021, we then expanded the methodology through the Commonwealth-funded ‘Every Week Counts National Program’ – a collaboration of 59 major hospitals working together to lower the rate of birth in the early term ages (37-39 weeks).
“Overall, we have shown that using current knowledge we can lower the rate of harmful early birth by about 7-10%.”
Caring for pre-term infants can be extremely expensive, and the socioeconomic impact is immense.
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A 2020 analysis revealed the annual cost of untimely early birth to the Australian Government was $1.4 billion each year with more than $350 million of this spend on those needing education assistance due to their early birth.
A 10% reduction in early birth equates to a saving of at least $100 million each year.
Professor Newnham acknowledged the efforts of clinicians and patients across the country.
“No other nation so far has achieved such results,” he said.
“This success has come from the hard work and dedication of thousands of healthcare workers across our many healthcare facilities, together with support from government at the Commonwealth, state and territory levels.”
He said while Australia was one of the safest places in the world to have a baby, “this program has made it even safer”.
Professor Newnham said the results provided strong evidence that structured, multi-faceted interventions using existing knowledge could yield measurable improvements in birth outcomes when implemented at scale.
He said it was important that the program be supplied to the entire population, not just those considered at risk.
“A key body of work for us moving forward will be to harness our new knowledge to prevent preterm preeclampsia and shape new discovery research, which will have an emphasis on different ways of looking at infection in early pregnancy such as a pregnant woman’s microbiome.”
In March 2025, the Federal Government announced new funding to expand the program to safely reduce rates of preterm and early term birth with a focus on improving pregnancy outcomes for First Nations mothers.
To support health services to adopt and spread evidence-based practice, the Alliance partnered with Women’s Healthcare Australasia and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
Chief executive of Women’s Healthcare Australasia and Co-Chair of Program Dr Barb Vernon said the publication of the Lancet paper would be critical in propelling the efforts of teams involved in round two of the national program.
“In our current phase, we are working with teams from more than 40 hospitals across the country to strengthen their efforts and create even more impactful outcomes for women and babies across Australia,” she said.
Dr Vernon said implementing culturally safe continuity of care models for First Nations women and babies continues to be a key area of focus.
“Unfortunately, First Nations babies are twice as likely as non-indigenous babies to be born too early,” she said.
“We know we need to expand access to culturally safe and trauma-informed maternity care services, co-designed and delivered with First Nations communities and healthcare professionals if we are serious about addressing this inequity.”
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