The Every Week Counts Collaborative

Annually, more than 26,000 babies (8.7%) are born too early in Australia, and this rate has been rising. The rate of preterm birth for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers is almost double that of non-Aboriginal mothers. Being born too early, known medically as preterm birth, is the single greatest cause of death in young children and one of the major causes of lifelong disability, including cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness and behavioral and learning problems at school age.   

In Australia the cost of preterm birth each year is estimated to be $1.4 billion, with more than two thirds of these costs borne by health services providing care to preterm newborns. Further, one quarter of the financial costs to government each year are for additional educational needs at school age. We now understand the increased rates of preterm and early term birth over recent years in Australia and similar countries is a likely contributor to the behavioural and learning difficulties being observed in our schools, together with the increased demand being placed on our schoolteachers. 

To improve health outcomes for women, babies, and their families, the Every Week Counts Collaborative will use IHI’s Breakthrough Series methods that have been successfully employed by hospitals around the globe for over 25 years to close the gap between research and practice through the application of improvement science. Teams from participating hospitals will be supported to use proven improvement tools to help them reliably implement the required approaches to reducing rates of preterm birth, and teams will also be able to share their learnings with each other across Australia.