A webinar dedicated to the World Prematurity Day was held on 17 November at the Shumen Affiliate of MU - Varna. Lecturers at the event were Dr. Sevdalina Stoykova and Chief Assist. Slavena Ilieva, PhD. Dr. Stoykova is a neonatologist, a part-time lecturer at the Shumen Affiliate of MU - Varna. Acknowledgement for her long-term work as a head of the Neonatology Department at MHAT-Shumen is the Doctor of the Year Award for 2014, and the prize "Doctor of Dignity", awarded in 2019. Dr. Stoykova's presentation on "Monitoring and Care in Premature Babies" was focused on neonatological care, which is essential for the activities of medical specialists. These activities leave a lasting impact on the children's quality of life and the demographic indicators.
The presentation made by Chief Assist. Ilieva, PhD, TS Midwifery, Department of Health Care at MU – Varna, entitled "Kangaroo Care", was based on her scientific priorities related to the competence and role of the modern midwife in a team providing invasive neonatal care.
The event was initiated by Prof. Sonya Toncheva, Director of Shumen Affiliate. More than 70 students from Shumen Affiliate took part in the webinar. Part of them attended the event in the auditoriums of the Affiliate, while the others joined on-line. Provoked by the lecturers, the students asked questions and shared their observations. During the discussions with the students, Dr. Stoykova told emotional stories related to memorable cases of her practice, in which neonatologists and health professionals had provided intensive and resuscitation care, giving a chance for life to the most vulnerable group of newborns – premature babies.
Students in the programme of Midwifery distributed information brochures to parents of premature babies at MHAT – Shumen AD, as part of the initiatives dedicated to that day. All the initiatives were held under the slogan "The Biggest Are the Smallest Heroes", and the balloons that decorated the Affiliate were in purple – a symbol of premature infants.
According to statistics, on average 10 % of births end prematurely. Approximately 15 million premature babies are born every year worldwide. According to the data of the Association of Neonatology for 2020, this percentage for Bulgaria is 9 %. In Shumen in 2020, 74 premature babies were born out of 880 births, which accounts for 8.4 %.
