Newborn mortality figures ‘stagnating’
Babies born in New Zealand have a far better chance of survival than those born in the poorest parts of the world, but New Zealand could still do better with newborn mortality rates refusing to budge.
Unicef’s Every Child Alive report shows Kiwi babies have a good chance of surviving their first month, but global deaths of newborn babies remained high.
New Zealand’s newborn mortality rate is 3.0 deaths per 1000 live births, meaning one in 333 babies dies within the first month of life, according to the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, 2017.
This rate is higher than the data held by New Zealand’s Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee (PMMRC), which puts it at 2.79. PMMRC’s latest data was released in
2015.
The Unicef data puts New Zealand’s newborn mortality rate at the average for high-income countries, while the average mortality rate in low-income countries is
27 per 1000 births.
If every country brought its newborn mortality rate down to the high-income average by 2030, 16 million lives could be saved.
Globally, the lowest rates of neonatal mortality based on the report are in Japan (0.9, one death in every 1111 live births) and Iceland (1.0, one death in every 1000). Australia’s rate is 2.2 (one death in every 455).
New Zealand ranked 149 out of 184 countries included in the report. Other countries with better outcomes than New Zealand also included Russia, Belarus, Croatia and the UK.
While New Zealand’s newborn death rate was lower than many other countries, and in-line with the average for high-income countries, there was still room for improvement.
The eleventh report from the PMMRC, which is based on 2015 data, showed New Zealand’s neonatal mortality rate had stagnated between 2007 and 2015.
Meanwhile, the UK, Australia and Scandanavia had continued to bring their rates down.
Health Minister David Clark said he was aware of the issue, and said health officials were looking at how other countries had achieved significant reductions in neonatal mortality, and how New Zealand could learn from their approaches.
‘‘Clearly we can do better. The continuing disparity for Ma¯ ori is also of great concern for me.’’
PMMRC chair Sue Belgrave said some communities were disproportionately affected, including Ma¯ ori, Pacific and Indian women, especially those from low socio-economic backgrounds.
A lack of proper diet and smoking during pregnancy could lead to neonatal death and congenital defects, she said, adding that work was being done to educate women about these issues.
‘‘We are working hard to get all the right information and try and make recommendations to government and all the right colleges to improve the outcomes for women and babies.’’
Belgrave said the PMMRC data (which she believed was the most reliable available data) included all deaths of babies born after 20 weeks, and included those caused by congenital abnormalities. Many countries did not include babies born before 24 or 28 weeks, Belgrave said.
This wider capturing of data, and different approach to reporting, would explain why some unexpected countries, like Belarus and Russia, had more favourable rates than New Zealand, according to the Unicef report.
New Zealand should feel assured that its neonatal mortality rates compared well with other countries, but further recommendations and information on how to drop the rate further, would soon be released in PMMRC’s annual report, Belgrave said.
While New Zealand needed to do better to continue to lower its stagnating neonatal mortality rate, newborn deaths in the Pacific were a cause for great concern.
Unicef NZ executive director Vivien Maidaborn said newborn babies, just a few hours away, were dying because of a lack of midwives, facilities and clean running water.
Kiribati has a rate of 22.6, followed by Vanuatu on 11.8, then Fiji (8.8), Samoa
(9.2) and Tonga (6.8).
‘‘Babies born in New Zealand are lucky enough to get a great start at life. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could share our knowledge and resources so that all babies, including those born throughout the Pacific, get the same great chances?’’
Unicef Pacific representative Sheldon Yett said the majority of the babies that died within their first month could be saved with affordable, quality healthcare.
‘‘Just a few small steps from all of us can help ensure the first small steps of each of these young lives.’’
More than 80 per cent of newborn deaths were due to premature birth, complications during labour, or infections such as pneumonia, according to the report.
Maidaborn said a relatively small amount of money and resources could help save lives in the Pacific.
Last month, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said New Zealand’s aid expenditure was in ‘‘serious need of review’’, following ‘‘nine years of underfunding by the previous government’’.
The aid budget was $1.7 billion over the three year period from 2015/16 to
2017/18. Currently, 59 per cent of development assistance went to supporting the Pacific, and a total of 18.6 per cent of aid went towards education, health and population initiatives.
Since 2013, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) has been the main donor, funding about 40 per cent, of Unicef’s Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) Programme, which supports 14 Pacific Island Countries and Territory (PICTs).
The programme focused on three main areas: immunisation, nutrition and new-born health, and health systems strengthening.
Funding for the programme was due to run out at the end of 2017, and a review of the programme was undertaken by MFAT in February last year.
‘‘Babies born in NZ are lucky enough to get a great start at life. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if . . . all babies get the same great chances?’’
Vivien Maidaborn