Ecouen, France, November 16, 2016 – Vygon, the specialist single-use medical devices group, is holding a number of awareness-raising events to mark World Prematurity Day on November 17. For the second year running, Vygon is a bronze partner of EFCNI. This year sees an enhanced program and increased involvement for the group. Fifteen million infants are born prematurely each year. World Prematurity Day provides an opportunity to raise worldwide awareness of the challenges of preterm birth through a range of events taking place in hospitals.”Vygon shares the values advocated by EFCNI. It strives to develop innovative medical devices that are specially designed to cater to the needs of premature babies, in order to help medical teams deliver the very best care,” said Stéphane Regnault, chairman of Vygon’s management board. “This is why we have decided to be an EFCNI bronze partner and ask our teams to organize a number of awareness-raising events on World Prematurity Day at our many subsidiaries throughout the world.”This year’s Prematurity Day activities will include discussions with parents and caregivers – with a particular focus on the experiences of parents of hospitalized premature infants, video broadcasts and demonstrations of related medical devices. Vygon’s specialized neonatal teams have developed specific awareness-raising activities for leading hospitals, such as the Leicester Royal Infirmary (UK) and the Necker Hospital in Paris (FR). This year the group will also involve its subsidiaries from other parts of the world, including the US, the UK, Australia, Nigeria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Mexico, Malaysia, Taiwan, Qatar and more.One of the key events will be arranged by Dr. Hai Khalid Bin Ibrahim, director of the Sungai Buloh Hospital in Malaysia, with various children’s activities, such as clowns, magic shows and fancy dress competitions. Over 200 people are expected to attend, including the families of premature infants, parents-to-be and medical staff.

The European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants (EFCNI) has been organizing World Prematurity Day since 2008. It is the first pan-European organization to represent the interests of premature and newborn infants and their families. It engages parents, scientists and healthcare specialists from different disciplines, with the shared aim of improving the long-term health of premature and newborn infants. The Foundation’s vision is to ensure the best start in life for all babies. Its work aims to reduce the preterm birth rate, provide the best possible treatment and care, and harmonize the care of newborns across all European countries.

To keep up-to-date with the events planned for Prematurity Day on November 17:

About preterm birth
A global issue, preterm birth is a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality in the newborn population. With 15 million infants born prematurely each year, industry collaboration with specialist physicians is an essential tool for developing medical devices specifically for these vulnerable infants, so they can grow and develop just like other children.

About EFCNI
The history of EFCNI starts with the very personal experience of Silke Mader, who lost one of her twins in 1997 after they were born prematurely. In the wake of this tragedy, Silke joined a local association for parents of premature babies. After becoming chair of the national association some years later, she founded EFCNI with neonatologists and other parents affected by preterm birth, to take the fight for preterm infants and their families to the European stage. November 2008 marked the start of a pan-European collaboration, with 25 representatives from 18 countries coming together to discuss what they could do to achieve their common goals. Since it was founded in 2008, EFCNI has grown into a renowned organization that advocates for premature infants, sick newborns and their parents. It has the support of a network of some 70 national parents’ associations and many professional organizations and societies throughout the world.

About Vygon
Vygon designs, manufactures and markets high-tech single-use medical devices for health care professionals in hospital and for private and independent practitioners. Vygon is a world leader within this industry, offering a wide range of products in a number of clinical specialties: neonatology, adult and pediatric critical care, anesthesia, long-term vascular access, oncology, emergency, cardiovascular and surgery, and home care. With expertise right along the value chain, from product design to the delivery of training for medical personnel, Vygon provides health care professionals with effective and innovative products tailored to their needs and those of their patients, for optimum use and safety. The company distributes over 205 million products a year in more than 120 countries through its network of 27 subsidiaries and 331 distributors. Vygon products display the CE and/or FDA mark and are manufactured in the group’s eight factories in Europe, the USA and Colombia. A family company founded in 1962, Vygon is based in Ecouen, in France’s Greater Paris region. It is a mid-sized business employing 2,150 staff worldwide. The turnover in 2015 was €302 million ($328.6 million), with 81% of this derived from Vygon’s international business.www.vygon.com