New study confirms Australia’s first preterm birth prevention program is delivering big results
A new study has confirmed that Australia’s groundbreaking initiative to reduce preterm and early term births is achieving strong results — with a significant drop in potentially harmful early births and better pregnancy outcomes for women nationwide.
Published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Women’s Health, the research reports detailed outcomes from the six-year national program, which first began in mid-2018.
Watch this video on Round 1 of the Every Week Counts Collaborative from Professor John Newnham, Chair of the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance.
Findings from the Lancet paper have shown that:
Overall, Australia’s national preterm birth prevention program has shown that using current knowledge we can lower the rate of harmful early birth by 7-10%.
The real face of this reduction is an approximate 4000 fewer cases of early birth each year across Australia since the program was launched.
Caring for preterm infants is extremely expensive, and the socioeconomic impact is immense. A 2020 cost analysis revealed the annual cost of untimely early birth to the Australian Government is $1.4 billion each year with more than $350 million of this spend on those needing education assistance due to their early birth.
In March 2025, the Commonwealth Department of Health, Disability and Ageing announced new funding to expand Australia’s world-first national program to safely reduce rates of preterm and early term birth with a focus on improving pregnancy outcomes for First Nations mothers.
To support health services to adopt and spread evidence-based practice as part of Round 2 the Every Week Counts National Preterm Birth Prevention Program, Women’s Healthcare Australasia (WHA) have partnered with the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).
This program is supported by funding from the Australian Government under the Preventing Preterm Birth grant.
We recognise Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander People as the traditional custodians of the lands on which we live and work and acknowledge that sovereignty of the land we call Australia has never been ceded. We commit to listening to and learning from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people about how we can improve experiences & outcomes of healthcare for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children and young people, their families & communities.
We acknowledge Māori as tangata whenua (original inhabitants) and Treaty of Waitangi partners in Aotearoa New Zealand. We recognise the tikanga (customary practices) of Maori and support their right to tino rangatiratanga (sovereignty). We commit to listening to and learning from Māori people about how we can improve experiences & outcomes of healthcare for Māori children and young people, their families & communities.