“Data shows the number of babies who died on their first day of life increased 75 per cent – from an average of 27 babies per month in 2022 to 47 babies per month between July and September 2025. Not all of this can be traced back to preterm or low birth weight, but alongside rising congenital abnormalities, doctors tell me it is a common story.
“Low birth weight is generally caused by poor maternal nutrition, increased maternal stress, and limited antenatal care. In Gaza, we witness all three, and the response is not moving fast enough nor at the scale required.
“Between July and September, about 38 per cent of the pregnant women screened by UNICEF and partners were diagnosed with acute malnutrition.
“And even now, we continue treating them in high numbers. In October alone, we admitted 8,300 pregnant and breastfeeding women for treatment for acute malnutrition – about 270 a day – in a place where there was no discernible malnutrition among this group before October 2023.
“This pattern is a grave warning and will likely result in low birth weight babies being born in Gaza for months to come.
Continue reading at https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/born-vulnerable-toll-maternal-malnutrition-and-stress-gaza