In honor of World Prematurity Day and Prematurity Awareness Month, Coalition staff wore purple and shared the reasons they care on November 17th.

Some staff pointed to the sobering statistics and facts: Prematurity is the number one killer of babies under one years old. For those babies who live to their first birthday, many endure lifelong health problems.

For some staff it was personal. One staff member was a premature baby himself. Another lost an infant cousin to prematurity.

World Prematurity Day aims to bring awareness to this issue that plagues communities and countries across the United States and across the globe. More than 15 million babies worldwide are born too soon and too small every year, including more than 2,300 births in Northeast Florida (13.3 percent of all births).