WHO calls for efforts to prevent newborn deaths

Nearly 7400 newborns die every day in the WHO South-East Asia Region causing untold misery to the mothers and families.  Two-thirds of these deaths can be prevented by adopting proven and cost-effective measures, World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday, reports BSS. “Scaling up interventions with good quality care around the time of childbirth and during the first days after birth can substantially prevent complications and infections in newborns, which are the main causes of newborn deaths,” Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director for WHO South-East Asia Region, said as health partners signed a pledge to reduce newborn deaths. Led by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank, UNAIDS and UNWOMEN pledged to
jointly support the countries in the region to prioritize accelerated reduction in newborn deaths by ensuring equitable access to essential life-saving interventions for mothers and babies. Dr Singh said each preventable death should be accounted for. Countries should review maternal and newborn deaths to improve health services to prevent such deaths in future. Focused efforts should be made to increase the health workforce - doctors, nurses and especially midwives, which are critically low in many countries of the region, below the WHO recommended 23 per 10,000 population. Training midwives, mobilizing sufficient and sustainable funding, and addressing inequities in health care interventions by reaching the unreached populations are among the other key interventions needed to reduce newborn deaths. The health partners also pledged to address underlying factors like health, nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, and to empower women. They also emphasized the importance of investing more in early childhood development and adolescent health to ensure good quality of life, health and well-being of newborns through a cross-sector collaboration approach. Dr Singh said that the region made significant progress in reducing deaths among children under the age of five years, as part of efforts under the Millennium Development Goals. The under five deaths dropped by 64 percent from 118/1000 live births in 1990 to 43/1000 live births in 2015. However, the reduction in newborn deaths was slower in comparison, at 55% during the same period - from 53/1000 live births in 1990 to 34/1000 live births in 2015.

WHO calls for efforts to prevent newborn deaths

Nearly 7400 newborns die every day in the WHO South-East Asia Region causing untold misery to the mothers and families. Two-thirds of these deaths can be prevented by adopting proven and cost-effective measures, World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday, reports BSS. Scaling up interventions with good quality care around the time of childbirth and during the first days after birth can substantially prevent complications and infections in newborns, which are the main causes of newborn deaths, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director for WHO South-East Asia Region, said as health partners signed a pledge to reduce newborn deaths. Led by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank, UNAIDS and UNWOMEN pledged to jointly support the countries in the region to prioritize accelerated reduction in newborn deaths by ensuring equitable access to essential life-saving interventions for mothers and babies. Dr Singh said each preventable death should be accounted for. Countries should review maternal and newborn deaths to improve health services to prevent such deaths in future. Focused efforts should be made to increase the health workforce - doctors, nurses and especially midwives, which are critically low in many countries of the region, below the WHO recommended 23 per 10,000 population. Training midwives, mobilizing sufficient and sustainable funding, and addressing inequities in health care interventions by reaching the unreached populations are among the other key interventions needed to reduce newborn deaths. The health partners also pledged to address underlying factors like health, nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, and to empower women. They also emphasized the importance of investing more in early childhood development and adolescent health to ensure good quality of life, health and well-being of newborns through a cross-sector collaboration approach. Dr Singh said that the region made significant progress in reducing deaths among children under the age of five years, as part of efforts under the Millennium Development Goals. The under five deaths dropped by 64 percent from 118/1000 live births in 1990 to 43/1000 live births in 2015. However, the reduction in newborn deaths was slower in comparison, at 55% during the same period - from 53/1000 live births in 1990 to 34/1000 live births in 2015.