Premature births are an indicator of the mother’s poor health, or poverty.

The Executive Director at South African Breastmilk Reserve, Staša Jordan, was speaking as its World Prematurity Day. She says that poorer countries have a higher rate of premature births. Each year, 15 million babies globally are born prematurely.

This amounts to 1 out of every 10 births worldwide. Jordan has urged for all medical facilities to be more conducive to helping preterm babies