Mothers carrying babies skin-to-skin could significantly cut global death and disability rates from premature birth, a leading expert has said. 
 
 Prof Joy Lawn says "kangaroo care", not expensive intensive care, is the key. 
 
 The 15 million babies every year born at or before 37 weeks gestation account for about 10% of the global burden of disease, and one million of them die. 
 
 Of those who survive, just under 3% have moderate or severe impairments and 4.4% have mild impairments. 
 
 Unless there are those breathing problems, kangaroo care is actually better Prof Joy Lawn, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine 
 
 Prof Lawn, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), said: "The perception is you need intensive care for pre-term babies, 
 
 "But 85% of babies born premature are six weeks early or less. They need help feeding, with temperature control and they are more prone to infection. 
 
 "It's really only before 32 weeks that their lungs are immature and they need help breathing, 
 
 She added: "Unless there are those breathing problems, kangaroo care is actually better because it promotes breastfeeding and reduces infection." 
 
 Speaking ahead of World Prematurity Day on Friday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who leads the Every Woman Every Child movement, which promotes improvements to healthcare for women and children, said: "Three-quarters of the one million babies who die each year from complications associated with prematurity could have been saved with cost-effective interventions, even without intensive care facilities." 
 
 Duncan Wilbur, from the UK charity Bliss, said, "While kangaroo care saves lives in Africa, it is also incredibly important for babies born too soon all over the world. 
 
 "Here in the UK our medical technology is extremely advanced but simply giving a baby kangaroo care or skin-to-skin can help make a baby's breathing and heart rate more regular, it can help a baby's discomfort during certain medical procedures and importantly can benefit breastfeeding and bonding between the baby and parents." 
 
 Pregnancy risks 
 
 Studies to be published this weekend in the Pediatric Research journal show boys are 14% more likely to be born prematurely - and boys who are premature are more likely to die or experience disability than girls. 
 
 Common disabilities include learning disorders and cerebral palsy. 
 
 Prof Lawn said: "One partial explanation for more preterm births among boys is that women pregnant with a boy are more likely to have placental problems, pre-eclampsia, and high blood pressure, all associated with preterm births." 
 
 She added: "Baby boys have a higher likelihood of infections, jaundice, birth complications, and congenital conditions, but the biggest risk for baby boys is due to preterm birth. 
 
 "For two babies born at the same degree of prematurity, a boy will have a higher risk of death and disability compared to a girl. 
 
 "Even in the womb, girls mature more rapidly than boys, which provides an advantage, because the lungs and other organs are more developed." 

 Boys are slightly more likely to be born premature than girls, and they tend to fare worse, too, says a new report on the health of the world's newborns. 
 
 "This is a double whammy for boys," said Dr. Joy Lawn of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who led the team of researchers. "It's a pattern that happens all over the world." 
 
 The gender difference isn't large: About 55 percent of preterm births in 2010 were male, the report found. Nor is it clear exactly why it happens. 
 
 The finding comes from a series of international studies being published Friday that examine newborn health and prematurity. About 15 million babies worldwide are born too soon, most of them in Africa and parts of Asia where survival is difficult for fragile newborns. Globally, about 1 million babies die as a direct result of preterm birth and another million die of conditions for which prematurity is an added risk, the researchers calculated. 
 
 Friday's report offers some of the first estimates of how many preemie survivors go on to suffer certain disabilities, and found that where these babies are born, and how early, determines their risk. 
 
 Overall, Lawn said about 7 percent of survivors have two of the most burdensome disabilities: neurologic-developmental impairment ranging from learning disabilities to cerebral palsy, and vision loss. 
 
 But the biggest risk is to the youngest preemies, those born before 28 weeks gestation. Worldwide, 52 percent of them are estimated to have some degree of neurodevelopmental impairment, the report found. 
 
 Moreover, the risk of impairment in middle-income countries is double that of wealthy countries like the U.S. 
 
 For example, China is saving more preemies' lives but at the cost of their vision, Lawn said. 
 
 Middle-income countries are missing out on a lesson the U.S. learned the hard way several decades ago, that giving these tiny babies too much oxygen can trigger a potentially blinding condition called retinopathy of prematurity. 
 
 "Disability is not something that's inevitable. It's preventable," she said, calling for improved quality of care including eye checks to prevent or reduce vision loss. 
 
 The March of Dimes reported this month that 11.5 percent of U.S. births now are preterm. That rate is inching down, thanks mostly to fewer babies being born just a few weeks early as standards for elective deliveries have tightened, but it still is higher than in similar countries. 
 
 For the public, the gender difference may be the most surprising finding of Friday's report, although Dr. Edward McCabe of the March of Dimes says pediatric specialists have long noticed that baby boys start out a bit more vulnerable. 
 
 "People are curious about it. We'd like to understand why this occurs," McCabe said. 
 
 One possible reason: Mothers have a higher risk of certain pregnancy complications _ high blood pressure and placenta abnormalities _ when carrying boys, Lawn said. 
 
 And if a boy preemie and a girl preemie are born at the same gestational age, the boy will be at higher risk of death or disability, she said. But Friday's report concluded there is too little information to quantify how big that risk is. 
 
 "Girls walk sooner than boys. They talk sooner than boys. They develop more quickly. That's also true in utero," Lawn said. For a preterm baby, "the difference of a few days maturity between a boy and a girl can mean the difference between major lung complications or not." 
 
 It's not just a prematurity issue. The report found that full-term boys also are more likely than girls to experience other newborn health problems including birth complications. 
 
 Other findings from the studies, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and published in the journal Pediatric Research: 
 
 _In high-income countries _ the U.S., Canada, Australia and most of Europe _ more than 80 percent of preemies both survive and thrive, although babies born even a little premature are more likely than full-term babies to be rehospitalized or have learning and behavioral challenges. 
 
 _In low-income countries, preterm babies are 10 times as likely to die as those in high-income countries, and death is more common than surviving with a serious disability. 
 
 _Aside from preterm birth, other leading causes of death and disability among newborns include birth complications that block breathing; severe jaundice and infections.
– In what researchers call a "double whammy for boys," new research has found that they are more likely to be born premature and more likely to die or suffer disabilities from being born too soon. Researchers say the disparity—around 55% of premature births are male—happens all around the world, the AP reports. The cause of the difference isn't fully understood, but mothers carrying boys are likelier to suffer complications including high blood pressure. Girls mature more rapidly in the womb and for a premature baby, "the difference of a few days maturity between a boy and a girl can mean the difference between major lung complications or not," the lead researcher says. Around a million of the 15 million babies born premature every year die and around 3% of the survivors end up with severe to moderate disabilities including learning disorders and cerebral palsy. The lead researcher says death and disability rates could be cut by adopting skin-to-skin "kangaroo care" instead of intensive care in many cases. "The perception is you need intensive care for pre-term babies," she tells the BBC. "But 85% of babies born premature are six weeks early or less. They need help feeding, with temperature control and they are more prone to infection." Unless they are born so early that they need help breathing, "kangaroo care is actually better because it promotes breastfeeding and reduces infection," she says.