Why is the rate of premature births so high in this community?

Baby Ladoo's grandmother, Hanifa, rocks the hammock where the 5-month-old stirs. His mother Mariam, 17, says her son was born prematurely at around seven months gestation. She couldn't afford follow-up care, so she bought him home and is hoping for the best. About 1 in 4 babies in this fishing settlement of Rehri Goth are born prematurely, nearly double the national rate of 14% — and that's one of the world's highest. Scientists in a nearby university say they may have uncovered a bacteria that acts as an indicator of whether a women is likely to birth full term or pre-term. Diaa Hadid/NPR hide caption toggle caption Diaa Hadid/NPR REHRI GOTH, Pakistan –- The wind whips up sewage dried to a powder that's been dumped for years onto an arid riverbed near the fishing settlement of Rehri Goth, on the outskirts of the Pakistani port city of Karachi. In an alley, a man squats over a pile of trash. He fishes out a battered peach and eats it. It's here that Sughran lives in a dusty compound with her extended family. She's only got one name. She doesn't know her age. Some dozen children mill about in tattered clothes. Five are hers. They're the survivors. On the day we meet, Sughran says it...