Over the past two decades the infant mortality rate has slashed down significantly on a global scale, owing to the advancement in healthcare technology, along with the help of international organizations and government support. Now to further reduce the infant mortality rate, advancement in prenatal diagnosis and newborn screening tests such as next generation sequencing, high throughput screening and cell free fetal DNA, are being promoted and implemented across different regions globally.
Prenatal testing helps in detecting genetic abnormality present in the foetus, which consequentially helps in saving the life of the mother as well as the child. A foetus with genetic disorder is more susceptible to increase the childhood mortality rate and risk the health or life of the mother. Presently, governments are keen to spread information about the prenatal testing and newborn screening among the populace, and are engaging in funding and initiatives to develop non-invasive solutions, as well as launching a large number of screening programs.
According to a research study by BIS Healthcare, countries which had higher percentage of newborn screening, had lower percentage of infant mortality. This is evident from this research, wherein Australia had infant mortality of only 3.2/1000 births with 100% newborn screening, and India had the highest mortality rate of 39.3/1000 births with only 1% newborn screening. This data makes it inevitable to conclude that prenatal testing and newborn screening are helping the government and the population across the globe to reduce childhood and infant mortality rate.
Recently, in their annual letter to Warren Buffet, Bill Gates stressed that “saving the children’s lives is the goal that launched our global work.” In 2016, it was found that 1 million babies died on the day they were born. This huge number looms over the milestones that have been achieved. Bill Gates mentioned that,
“As the total number of childhood deaths has dropped, the proportion that are newborn deaths has gone up. Newborn deaths now represent 45 percent of all childhood deaths, up from 40 percent in 1990.”
Their observation has impacted the healthcare world and new technologies like prenatal testing and newborn screening can help in reducing this percentage of newborn deaths.
Presently, North America leads the prenatal testing and new-born screening market, Asia Pacific region, especially Japan and India, are expected to show a dynamic growth in the market owing to the rising cases of genetic disorders in this region. With keeping in mind the rising newborn mortality rate and to sustain the reduction in childhood mortality, the key players in the market are investing in research and development of the prenatal testing, which is not possible with the of the governments, as foreign aids from richer worlds has helped in saving 122 million children’s lives since 1990.
BIS Healthcare has compiled an extensive market research report on ‘Global Prenatal Testing and Newborn Screening Market: 2016-2022’. The market analysis report provides an in-depth analysis of the key development strategies, marketing strategies and market trend dynamics which includes drivers, restraints and opportunities prevailing in the industry.
