Helping the newborn get a good start

Press, 10 February 1982, Page 11

Helping the newborn get a good start

“If you do something right for the newborn, you may have a 70-year pay-off,” an American pediatrician, Professor Mary Ellen Avery, said in Christchurch. Professor Avery,- who is in New Zealand to promote the research work done by the Foundation for the Newborn, has spent the last 25 years improving the lot of the young child. “You could say that I specialise in the first breath of a baby,” she said. “The initiation of breathing at birth is, of course, important. Just how this is. accomplished is not fully understood, and when it doesn’t happen, we have to be prepared to help.” Professor Avery asserts that unless you think about the problems that can happen during pregnancy, and child-birth, “they are just swept under the 1 rug.” She feels that birth abnormalities such as spina bifida

and cerebal palsy must ■be researched, and a cure found.

“Some constrained economies believe that such research is a luxury. But the

cost of a preventive exercise any society can take. “We are taking multiple small steps, learning about problems, sharing successes and concerns — it is all part of medical progress. “One child in 10 is born less than perfect — we are trying to find the causes. It seems unfair that a baby can get off to a bad start in life. We’re trying to help them get off to a good one.” Professor Avery said that New Zealand had much to be proud of when it came to research into the newborn. “Professor Liggins, in Auckland, has done much Tor the newborn child. I whisked by him-.-en route to Christchurch, but J intend to nail him down once I reach Auckland."l want to learn about his work.”

Professor Avery feels that there is a lot .more work still to be done for the newborn. “The work seemed a challenge when I started — it still is.”