Nigeria loses 89,700 day-old babies yearly, says report

THE huge efforts to reduce high maternal and infant mortality rate in the country notwithstanding, no fewer than 89,700 day-old babies still die in Nigeria yearly, according to The State of the World’s Mothers 2013 report released on Tuesday. The report by Save the Children International, which was launched around the world, ranked Nigeria 169th out of the 176 countries in the report, and among the 10 worst countries where to be a pregnant woman and a child.

At a similar presentation in Lagos, the report put the rate of death on the first day at 14 per 1,000 live births, which is higher than the sub-Saharan average of 12 per 1,000. It stated: “Nigeria has the 12th highest rate of first-day deaths in the world, making it one of the riskiest places to be born, as well as one of the countries with the most first-day deaths.

“Of all the countries in the sub-Saharan region, Nigeria is the most heavily burdened by first-day deaths. Each year, nearly 90,000 (89,700) mothers lose their babies the same day they give birth. This is almost nine per cent of the global total of the day-of-birth deaths and the second largest share after India (29 per cent).”

It added: “Nigeria has less than five per cent of the world’s births but almost twice that percentage of first-day deaths. 12 per cent of all under-five deaths in Nigeria take place on the day a child is born and 34 per cent take place within the first month of birth. This means that more than one-third of all deaths to children under the age of five are deaths to babies in their first month of life.”









Country Director, Save the Children, Susan Grant, said at the Lagos launch that Nigeria had made significant progress in reducing the deaths of children under five since 1990, with the death rate of under five children declining by 42 per cent.

While this is significant, reduction of deaths among children under five was not sufficient by itself for Nigeria to be on track to achieve the ambitious United Nations MDG 4 goal of reducing 1990 child mortality rates by two-thirds by 2015, she noted.

According to Grant, the status of women and children are strong indicators of the value that a nation places on its citizen, “therefore, any report on the state of the world’s mothers is in reality a report of the state of the world!”

Save the Children is for the first time in its 14 editions drawing attention to newborns following the yearly death of three million babies within the first month of life, most of them from preventable diseases. Over a third of these babies die on their first day of life, making the birthday the riskiest for newborns and mothers almost everywhere in the world.

Therefore, helping babies survive the first day - as well as the first week and month of life - represents the last great challenge “if we are to achieve MDG goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds by 2015, less than two years away,” Grant added.

“Nigeria has one of the highest numbers of maternal deaths. Each year, 40, 000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth. Most of these deaths are preventable. The report outlines key interventions that can prevent newborns and mothers from dying.”

Key components include “having more midwives and trained health workers to support mothers before, during and after delivery; clean cord care, immediate and exclusive breastfeeding, promotion of skin-to-skin care (KMC) for premature babies - all low cost interventions that will help thousands of mothers and babies live,” she said.

Senior Manager, Save the Children, Dr. Abimbola Williams, observed from the report that indicators used were lifetime risk of maternal deaths, children’s health (especially in under fives), educational status or attainment of women, economic status and female political participation.

She urged the Federal Government to pass the National Health Bill and to provide more resources to reduce maternal and infant deaths.



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