Princess Beatrice launches Borne’s World Prematurity Day science campaign at Control Room B
Starting on Monday 10 November, HRH Princess Beatrice visited the Borne research laboratories at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital to learn more about the charity’s groundbreaking work to understand why babies are born too soon and prevent premature birth.
The campaign continued on Tuesday 11 November with a special event hosted by HRH Princess Beatrice, and Borne Founder Professor Mark Johnson at Control Room B, at London’s iconic Battersea Power Station. The event brought together supporters, researchers, and families united by Borne’s mission to end premature birth. The campaign’s tagline is ‘every week counts’, highlighting the need to keep the baby in the womb to term.
A special episode of the charity’s podcast will be released on Monday 17 November featuring HRH Princess Beatrice, Ambassador Laura Tobin and Borne Founder Professor Mark Johnson that will focus on the important work that Borne is doing to prevent premature birth.
The scale of the challenge
- 60,000 babies are born prematurely in the UK every year – that’s 1 in 13 births.
- Globally, 15 million babies arrive too soon each year.
- Complications from prematurity remain the leading cause of neonatal death and lifelong disability.
- Yet, less than 2% of medical research funding is dedicated to pregnancy and childbirth.
HRH Princess Beatrice, Patron of Borne, said:
“The work that Borne is undertaking is something that is incredibly close and personal to me following the birth of my daughter. Every year in the UK, 60,000 babies are delivered too soon, with little information or research as to why this is. That is why I am really looking forward to supporting Borne and its programme of groundbreaking research, which I hope will help thousands of parents and children in the future.”
David Badcock, Chief Executive of Borne, said:
“We were honoured to welcome HRH Princess Beatrice to launch our campaign today. Her support helps raise awareness of the urgent need for more research into prematurity; an area that has for too long been underfunded and underexplored. At Borne, we believe that every week counts, and by investing in science today, we can transform the outcomes for families tomorrow.”
