Breakthrough Collaborative

Improving health outcomes for women and babies by safely reducing preterm and early term birth across Australia.

A national collaborative aimed at supporting hospitals to deliver evidence-based changes in clinical care is set to significantly reduce rates of preterm birth by improving health outcomes for mothers and their babies.

The Every Week Counts: National Preterm Birth Prevention Collaborative is a two-year initiative aiming to safely lower the rate of preterm and early term birth within participating maternity units from across Australia and leave an enduring culture of better practice.

The joint collaboration between will use methods that have been successfully employed by hospitals around the globe for over 25 years.

Chair of the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance, Professor John Newnham AM, pointed to the Collaborative as being a truly national force aiming to strategically lower the rate of preterm birth.

“The National Collaborative aims to safely reduce preterm and early term birth across Australia by 20% through supporting hospitals in the adoption of evidence-based changes in clinical care,” Professor Newnham said. 

WHA Chief Executive Officer, Dr Barbara Vernon, said that more than 30 hospitals across Australia would be involved in the National Collaborative.

“Australia has pockets of excellence for safely reducing early birth, however wide scale adoption across all health services has yet to occur,” Dr Vernon said.

“This model is designed to do just this and help organisations close the gap between what we know, what we do, and ultimately, prevent preterm birth and it’s far reaching impacts.”

During the Collaborative, participating hospital teams will be supported to accelerate their learning and develop reliable systems to ensure all women are offered the care and public health information that is known to reduce early birth. Teams will also be able to share their learnings with each other across Australia.  

The National Preterm Birth Prevention Collaborative is being funded by the Commonwealth Government through the Women & Infants Research Foundation.

To find out about more about the National Collaborative, and what care is being recommended to reduce risk of preterm birth, visit the website of 
Women's Healthcare Australiasia.

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