PREBIC Global 2020 Annual Meeting in Ghana

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Project Summary/Abstract The Preterm Birth International Collaborative (PREBIC) Global group was founded in 2003 with a goal of a multi- pronged approach to combat preterm birth. Preterm birth (delivery <37 weeks’ gestation) is a world-wide problem, with 60% of preterm deliveries originating from 10 countries, including the United States and Nigeria, and remains a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Aside from the United States, the bulk of preterm birth is from Asia, Africa and South America, making the work of PREBIC in these areas of utmost importance. PREBIC holds annual meetings and workshops with the goal of reviewing the progress from preterm birth research and asking new questions that can lead to further hypotheses and solutions. The meetings are vibrant and collegial, leading to open, dynamic and innovative discussion regarding the current limitations and problems in preterm birth research. By combining basic scientists, statisticians, clinicians and policy makers, PREBIC is able to draw upon a unique knowledge base to create solutions that work from bench to bedside. However, most meetings have been held in Europe or the United States, limiting the ability of investigators from low or middle income countries (LMIC) to participate. To address this limitation, in 2016 PREBIC planned to expand globally and establish regional branches that could meet and address local issues while creating ongoing collaborations for new projects. While we have been able to get industry funding to defray the expense of the US and European meetings, the meeting in low and middle income countries are more challenging and often more expensive due to the limited ability for local industry and institutional support. Due to both my strong interest in preterm birth research and large familial support in Ghana, as the Vice President of PREBIC, my goal is to start a bi-annual meeting in Ghana. There are 2 major goals of the 18th Annual Preterm Birth International Collaborative (PREBIC) Global meeting in Ghana: first, to foster international collaboration on novel, translational and multi-disciplinary preterm birth research in Africa, and second to launch the PREBIC Africa branch. This meeting will gather preterm birth experts from around the world as well as local and regional experts within Africa, encouraging representatives from participating countries to lead local branches of PREBIC Africa. A large part of the PREBIC mission is to provide a format for young investigators to share their work, and this meeting will continue to encourage that mission amongst attendees.