Low-income parents whose children suffer respiratory failure now have new hope for treatment as the result of an initiative by an English couple who lost a baby to the condition.

Scott and Cecile Spirit yesterday launched Shanghai's first foundation that provides financial subsidies to help treat newborns with severe respiratory problems.

The foundation has collected 490,000 yuan (US$71,742), including 100,000 yuan from the Shanghai Children's Health Foundation, which is overseeing the program. Most of the money was donated by the couple and their families and relatives.

The idea for the foundation came after the arrival of twin boys in October last year. The babies, born three months premature, were sent to the city's Fudan University Children's Hospital, which is the site of the new foundation.

The older son, Leo, died a month later due to severe respiratory failure, while younger brother Tomas survived and recovered well after three months of treatment.

"When I saw my little 800-gram boys at the hospital's old building on Fenglin Road, I was shocked by the poor building and suspected that I may have sent my babies to the wrong place and let them down. But I thought I was wrong a week later after seeing the doctors' performance and their professional ability," Spirit, a Shanghai-based strategy director for the international communications services group WPP, said at the foundation's launch ceremony, which was held at the hospital on Wanyuan Road in Minhang District.

"It is dangerous for a baby to be born three months early, and the doctors did their best to save Leo. So we decided to do something positive and constructive for Leo and all children with the same disease," he said.

The couple said they will continue to collect money for the foundation to treat as many children as possible.

At the beginning, the foundation intends to give each newborn with respiratory failure a subsidy of 5,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan. That means only 10 children will enjoy support a year at present.

"The budget will grow after the foundation becomes bigger," said Dr Huang Guoying, the hospital's president.

The need is immense.

Half of all babies at neonatal intensive care units are being treated for respiratory failure, and 15 percent of them die.

"Premature babies are more likely to suffer respiratory failure," said Dr Cao Yun, vice director of the hospital's department of neonatology. "The earlier a child is delivered, the higher the incidence of respiratory failure."

For premature babies who weigh less than 1 kilogram at birth, the risk of respiratory problems is 70 percent to 80 percent, she said.

Medical costs run 1,000 to 2,000 yuan per day, and treatment can last for months.

"Some parents have to stop treatment due to financial difficulty. So it is really great to have such a foundation that gives our patients more chances," Cao said.