"Light up purple" supports the world's miracle babies

Families celebrate when a baby is born, but when things go out of hand and a baby has to fight for life, it can be overwhelming and impact the whole family.

Every year, 15 million babies are born prematurely worldwide - that's more than one in 10 births, according to the 2012 report Born too soon: the global action report on preterm birth. More than one million of those babies die shortly after birth while many face lifelong disabilities.

In Australia, 27,000 babies are born too early and one thousand will lose their fight for survival.

Today, November 17 is World Prematurity Day - a day to increase awareness of preterm births as well as the deaths and disabilities due to prematurity.

Miracle Babies Foundation' CEO and co-founder Kylie Pussell encourages Australians to support ‘Light Up Purple’ to raise and support the tiniest babies and their families and what could be done to prevent devastating effects of preterm births.