Our mission is to help prevent premature birth,
and to support prematurely born babies,
their families and caregivers.
- 15 million babies are born prematurely each year worldwide, and pre-term birth rates are increasing.
- 1 million babies die each year due to pre-mature birth complications.
- Globally, prematurity is the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5 years.
- In the Netherlands, over 15,000 babies are born prematurely each year.
- Many survivors face a lifetime of disability, including learning disabilities and visual and hearing
problems.
Sources: World Health Organization (WHO) and Project UNIEK, Amsterdam UMC
Our mission is to help prevent premature birth, and to support prematurely born babies, their families and caregivers. We do this by supporting research into healthy pregnancies and perinatal health, and helping premature babies and their families during and after their time in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). You can help! Please consider a donation to the Sophie Foundation. All donations are welcome, big and small – and will be used for the identified projects (see examples below, please check the “Projects” page to see all projects).
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41.055Research Project: Generation P
Researcher Dr. Tim de Meij, Pediatrician for Gastrointestinal illnesses at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Emma Children's Hospital at the Amsterdam University Medical Center (AUMC) will run this multi-center research project. A study about the influence of early microbiome colonization, antibiotic exposure and nutrition during prematurity on the health in later childhood. The research study will include over 3000 preterm infants in 9 NICUs across the country.€ 8 211 donated of € 20 000 goal -
25.016666666667Breastmilk Bank
Nutrition in the first phase of a baby has a huge impact: fewer infections, less incidence of NEC, faster on full enteral nutrition. In collaboration with SANQUIN, the Dutch blood bank, Emma Children's Hospital at the Amsterdam UMC organizes a breastmilk bank to enable mothers who cannot breastfeed their baby themselves, to still give all the benefits of breastmilk to their babies. Donors are screened (medication/diet/smoking/alcohol/drugs etc). Donor milk is always traceable from donor to recipient and vice versa. The "liquid gold" costs EUR 318 per liter, which translates to EUR 48 per day for a child of 1 kg. Help us feed 25 babies for 15 days!€ 4 503 donated of € 18 000 goal -
63.906666666667Project UNIEK – Amsterdam Universitair Medisch Centrum
Project UNIEK has been started by the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the VUmc academic hospital, to further improve the care of premature babies. We are happy to support this project by donating specific items, such as "kangaroo" chairs, "froggie" positioning aids, incubator covers, cooling bags for mother milk, etc.€ 19 172 donated of € 30 000 goal
