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Newborns in sub-Saharan Africa: how to save these fragile lives.

Article Excerpt
Every day in Africa, 2,400 babies are stillborn and another 3,100 newborns die within their first four weeks of life. Half of African women and their babies do not receive skilled care during childbirth and even fewer receive effective post-natal care. (1) To achieve the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG 4)--to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds from the 1990 rate by 2015-much more needs to be done to prevent neonatal deaths.

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Why are so many newborns dying in sub-Saharan Africa? The causes are relatively few. Birth asphyxia, preterm birth and infections account for 87 per cent of newborn deaths in Africa (see graph on page 61). Mortality overall is higher in Africa than in other regions of the world. The underlying social determinants that contribute to the causes of newborn deaths are poverty, low levels of maternal education and inequities in access to quality health care. Also, until recently, there has been insufficient attention paid to neonatal health and it has received relatively little funding in relation to the large numbers of deaths. Part of the problem has been a lack of reliable information on how many newborns are actually dying, since births and deaths are not always registered. It is estimated that as many as...

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