89,700 babies die at birth in Nigeria – Report

A NEW State of the World’s Mothers Report released yesterday ranked Nigeria 2nd among the top 10 countries with the most first-day of life deaths. According to the Report not less than 89,700 (9 percent) babies die on their first day of life every year in Nigeria,.

The report, which is 14th in series of the “Save the Children entitled “Surviving the First Day” compared first-day death rates for 186 countries and found that in most countries, children are at greatest risk on the day they are born.

The report, released yesterday, also ranked Nigeria 169 on the Mothers’ Index out of the 186 countries assessed in key areas such as mother’s health, education and economic status, as well as critical child indicators of health and nutrition.

Data from the Report showed that India has the highest number of first-day deaths with 309,300 (29 percent), followed by Pakistan, 59,800 (6 percent), China 50,600 (5 percent), Republic of Congo 48,400 (5 percent), Ethiopia 28,800 (3 percent); Bangladesh 28,100 (3 percent), Indonesia 23,400 (2 percent), Afghanistan 18,000 (2 percent) and Tanzania 17,000 (2percent).

Among countries with the worst Mothers’ Index were Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Niger, Central African Republic and Gambia.

Presenting the Report in Lagos yesterday, Country Manager, Save the Children International, Susan Grant stated that helping babies survive the first day as well as the first week and first month of life represented the last great challenge if we are to achieve the Millennium Development goal of reducing Child mortality by two thirds by 2015 – this is less than two years away.

She regretted that Nigeria according to the Report has one of the highest numbers of maternal and newborn deaths adding that each year 40,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth and over 2590,000 babies die in their first month of life.

“Most of these deaths are preventable, The time is now for all of us to invest in newborns. The Report outlines key interventions which can prevent newborns and mothers from dying.

She said two-thirds of first day deaths of babies which is 673,000 out of the one million recorded annually occurred in just 10 countries globally.

The Report recommends key components such as having more skilled midwives, trained health care workers to support mother before and after delivery, clean cord care to prevent infection and exclusive breast feeding were low cost interventions that would save thousand of mothers and children’s lives.

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