Editorial
New-born fatalities
Dearth of trained and efficient health workers highlighted
Although in terms of some social indicators, Bangladesh has been faring well in comparison with her South Asian neighbours, especially in the area of child immunisation, quite ironically, however, the mortality rate among the just born is quite high. At the international conference organised by Bangladesh Neo-Natal Forum with the assistance of Unicef, Save the Children-USA and ICDDR'B shocking revelations were made about the incidence of mortality among the new-born. According to a report in a prominent Bangla daily, everyday as many as 328 new-born die in our country, making a total of 1,20,000 per year. Within a week of their delivery, 75 percent expire with 50 percent of them dying in 24 hours.
The reasons ascribed to this high rate of neo-natal deaths are infection, respiratory complications and low weight. But basically it seems to us that delivery of children at home without the services of trained mid-wives, lack of basic nutrition and lack of care are causes of most deaths.
Even though the neo-natal deaths are basically poverty related, with the health and nutritional status of the mother largely determining the fate of the new-born, the problem can be reasonably overcome through awareness building among would-be mothers about nutrition derivable from leafy vegetables, lentils or affordable fruits. An improvement in the sanitary conditions of the household is important to keep infections away. But in any case, we have to make sure pregnant mothers visit health centres from time to time and untrained hands are never used in delivering children.
Mother care is key to the whole question of reducing infant mortality, yet this goes largely by default because of gender discrimination in our society. It is in this area that the family, community and the state have their respective roles to play for a turn-around in the situation.
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