Middle-East OBGYN Graduate Education (MOGGE) Foundation Practice Guidelines: Prelabor rupture of membranes; Practice guideline No. 01-O-19

According to Websters Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary, the word “viability” refers to the stage of fetal development at which a fetus is capable of living outside the uterus [5]. Biomedical maturity and technological advancement are the determinants of viability [7]. [...]gestational age at viability in the Middle-East, Africa and other low resource countries is generally greater than that in developed countries [5]. In the United States, the limit of viability is 24 weeks’ gestation because of advanced neonatal care. [...]some institutes set the definition to 23 weeks’ gestation based on their internal data [8]. Furthermore, due to neonatal care advancement, neonatal outcomes are more favorable if delivered in high resource countries compared to resource challenged. [...]even newborns delivered at 34 weeks’ gestation do not necessarily present reassuring outcomes in low-resource settings.