‘World’s poorest babies at risk’

BABIES born in the world’s poorest countries, most of them in Africa, still face “alarming” risks of death that can be 50 times as high as those in the richest countries, according to a Unicef report released yesterday.

While the last quarter-century has seen broad improvements in older children’s health, “we have not made similar progress in ending deaths among children less than one month old”, Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore said.

“Given that the majority of these deaths are preventable, clearly we are failing the world’s poorest babies.”

The differences are stark. A baby born in Pakistan – the country with the worst newborn mortality rate – faced a one-in-22 chance of death, while a newborn in Japan had only a one in 1 111 risk of dying, the report said.

Of the 10 highest-risk countries, eight are in sub-Saharan Africa, countries where pregnant women are much less likely to receive assistance, due to poverty, conflict or weak institutions, according to the report.

Those eight countries are the Central African Republic (one-in-24 chance of death); Somalia, Lesotho, Guinea-Bissau and South Sudan (all one-in-26); Ivory Coast (one-in-27) and Mali and Chad (both one-in-28).

Each year, about 2.6 million babies do not survive through their first month.

The report was released in conjunction with the launch of a global campaign, called Every Child Alive, aimed at ensuring affordable, quality healthcare solutions for every mother and newborn. More than 80% of newborn deaths can be prevented, the report says, with welltrained midwives, along with proven solutions like clean water, disinfectants, breastfeeding within the first hour, skinto-skin contact and good nutrition.

But shortages of properly trained health workers and midwives are a major problem in poorer nations.

While a rich country like Norway has 18 doctors, nurses and midwives for every 10 000 people, impoverished Somalia has only one.

Every year, one million babies die the day they are born.

“We know we can save the vast majority of these babies with affordable, quality healthcare solutions,” Fore said.

In general, babies born in richer countries fare far better, but there are differences within countries.