Born Too Soon is a global action report published in 2012 which involved collaboration from more than 50 organizations. The report provided the first-ever national, regional and global estimates of preterm birth and the major findings of the report are expanded upon in six new review papers. The articles are jointly funded by the charities Save the Children and March of Dimes and published in collaboration with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and World Health Organization (WHO). The series is due to be published as a supplement in the journal Reproductive Health on Friday 15th November, and a detailed infographic providing key facts and figures from the series. You can see it here:

Sunday 17th November 2013 marks this year’s World Prematurity Day, a global effort to raise awareness about premature birth and its prevention. Visit facebook.com/worldprematurityday to read stories from around the world. Show your support and help raise awareness by changing your Facebook cover image and sharing our posts and images with your friends.

In recognition of World Prematurity Day 2013 and the publishing of the Born Too Soon supplement in Reproductive Health we will be hosting a 1 hour Twitter-chat to discuss what actions are currently in place to reduce neonatal mortality as a result of premature birth and what actions can be taken in the future to improve this.

We will be joined in discussion by a very prominent group of researchers in the discussion of premature birth. For a chance to have your say, join us (@GHWindow), Mary V Kinney (@maryvkinney), Joy E Lawn (@joylawn), Salimah Walani (@SalimahWalani) and Anthony Costello (@globalhlthtwit) for a one hour Twitter-chat on Friday 15th November at 4pm UK time. The Twitter-chat will use the hashtag #B2Soon, and will be moderated from the @GHWindow Twitter account.

The questions we’ll be asking during the Twitter-chat are:

1. What are the associated risk factors during the preconception and pregnancy period which may increase the risk of preterm birth?

2. How do countries mobilise women to protect slightly preterm infants in the community through proven interventions?

3. How do countries strengthen the quality of special care for all preterm babies in district hospitals in resource poor settings?

4. How can countries improve their perinatal audit and follow-up services for preterm infants?

5. How can mHealth (mobile health) contribute to improving care, prevention and preterm data collection?

We hope you can join us to share your views on these and related topics. Please remember to use the hashtag #B2Soon in all tweets. If your question or comment is directed at a specific individual, include their @name at the start of your tweet.

We look forward to your participation! If you’re unable to join us for the chat, please feel free to tweet your comments to @GHWindow with the #B2Soon hashtag. An edited summary of the Twitter-chat will be published in a Storify post soon after the session.

You should also join #WorldPrematurityDay and make your voice heard in a 24-hour twitter relay starting at 8pm EST on Friday, November 15 and help us raise awareness of babies #borntoosoon. The chat brings together experts, professionals, advocates, and parents in a global conversation around premature birth, the second largest cause of death in children under the age of five.