Cerebral Birth Injury

Abstract

It has been said that although less than 10 per cent of babies are lost in the perinatal period, it is only one-tenth of the survivors who reach a university level of education. It is possible that birth injury may damage the brain only minimally so that babies are born well below their potential of intellectual attainment, though not obviously defective. Hence, when considering the hazards of the birth process, survival only should not be the aim, but ‘intact survival’ needs to be emphasised, which means survival with undiminished potential for intellectual growth and attainment.