World Prematurity Day
Next: November 15, 2026
For the tiniest fighters and their families.
The story
Where it comes from
World Prematurity Day was started in 2008 by the European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants, now the Global Foundation (GFCNI), with European parents' organisations, and was first marked in 2009. In 2025 the World Health Assembly added it to WHO's official calendar. So as not to share a date with World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day, it moved from its familiar 17 November to 15 November in 2026. It speaks for babies born before 37 weeks of pregnancy and for the families who care for them.
How it's celebrated
The day is marked in purple. Landmarks are lit, hospitals and parent groups hold gatherings, and families share their stories in more than 100 countries. A kind message to a family with a baby in the NICU, or to the nurses looking after one, suits the day.
Did you know
- The day's symbol is a line of socks: one tiny purple pair among nine full-sized ones, because about one baby in ten is born preterm.
- WHO estimates that 13.4 million babies were born preterm in 2020.
- A WHO-led trial in hospitals in India, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania found that starting skin-to-skin 'kangaroo care' immediately after birth cut deaths among small babies by about a quarter.
Coming up next
- International Day of the Mediterranean Diet · November 16, 2026
- World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day · November 17, 2026
- International Day of Islamic Art · November 18, 2026
- International Men's Day · November 19, 2026
- Vietnamese Teachers' Day · November 20, 2026
- World Children's Day · November 20, 2026