Help provide the gift of life
Improving the odds for these Tiny Fighters
More than
26,000
Australian premature babies are born annually
Over
70%
require special care
Most are born
6
weeks early
More than 26 000 babies are born prematurely in Australia every year. The impact can be heart-breaking for the entire family. Tragically some babies will die, others are left with brain and nerve damage such as cerebral palsy, the majority require special and/or neonatal intensive care, prolonged hospital stays and are at increased risk of chronic lung disease.
Help world-class Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) clinicians change these devastating statistics and give newborns the gift of a full life with endless potential.
We are privileged to be involved with families at a time when these babies are extremely vulnerable. Survival has definitely improved over the last 10-20 years and many of these babies go onto have very meaningful, full lives but more funding is always needed for research.
– Doctor Melissa Lai
Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) Neonatalogist and Researcher
The Grantley Stable Neonatal Unit and RBWH Perinatal Research Centre
More than 1600 premature and sick babies are admitted every year to the RBWH Grantley Stable Neonatal Unit for specialist care and management. Any baby born less than 37 week’s gestation, or which requires diagnosis and care for surgical, genetic or breathing problems, will be cared for by this incredible team.
And these tiny fighters are given greater odds than ever, thanks to the RBWH Perinatal Research Centre.
Since opening in 1992 as an initiative of RBWH Foundation, the Centre has established itself as Australia’s premier research centre for pre-term births, focusing on improving the survival rate of premature and seriously ill babies, and quality of life for both the baby and mother.
Eighty-five per cent of babies born twelve weeks premature now survive thanks to the lifesaving work of Perinatal Research Centre staff and the hospital’s Grantley Stable Neonatal Unit. With your help, we can keep improving outcomes for premature babies.
The common painkiller reducing newborn brain injury
Fetal Growth Restriction (FGR) babies can have a wide range of neurodevelopmental disabilities, ranging from lower academic performance and attention deficit disorders through to cerebral palsy.
Currently, there is no treatment to reduce these long-term adverse outcomes, however researchers at the RBWH Perinatal Research Centre have recently discovered a potentially revolutionary treatment from a surprisingly simple source: ibuprofen.
The researchers first established the presence of inflammation in the FGR newborn brain. They then examined how therapeutically targeting inflammation using ibuprofen could not only reduce sustained inflammation, but also reduce neuronal and white matter impairment.
“By administering ibuprofen for three days after birth, we were able to reduce damage to brain cells,” said Postdoctoral Researcher Dr Julie Wixley.
This ground-breaking study could herald a change in clinical practice for the 32 million FGR babies born across the world each year.
Perinatal research and care gives Zoe Robinson the gift of time
When Zoe Robinson was born 11 weeks premature in the early nineties, the statistics were grim.
One in three pre-term babies did not survive.
Thanks to perinatal research and RBWH world-leading expertise in the treatment and care of premature babies, not only has Zoe thrived, in 2021 she was named Australian Pharmacy Student of the Year.
Incredibly, Zoe was on student placement at RBWH when she won the award, at times assisting with medication for the Neonatal Unit where she was born.
“When I was interviewed for the RBWH position, I did tell them I was born here ten weeks early, which was quite special for me - a full circle moment,” said Zoe, pictured with RBWH Director of Neonatology Dr Pieter Koorts and RBWH Director of Women’s and Newborn Services Associate Professor Karin Lust.
A monthly gift will support patient care projects and research that will help save tiny lives
While very donation makes a difference, monthly gifts are the most powerful way to support perinatal research and care projects that will reduce the mortality rate of premature babies.
