4th December, 2006
As many as 1.16 million newborns in sub-Saharan Africa die in the first month of life, according to a report from the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health - which represents more than 80 organisations, agencies and countries.

The report, Opportunities for Africa’s Newborns, says lives of as many as two-thirds of those who die within their first month could be saved every year if 90 per cent of women and babies received “feasible, low-cost health interventions”.

These include immunising women against tetanus, providing a skilled attendant at child birth, treating newborn infections properly and educating mothers about hygiene, warmth and breastfeeding.

Other data within the report said that as many as 500,000 African babies die on the day they are born - many of them at home and uncounted. Liberia has the world’s highest mortality rate at 66 deaths per 1,000 births compared to less than two per 1,000 births in Japan.

Half of all Africa’s 1.16 million newborn deaths occur in just five countries: Nigeria - where there are more than 255,000 newborn deaths a year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda.

Co-author Dr Joy Lawn, who works in Africa for Saving Newborn Lives/Save the Children - US, says that there was some good news coming out of Africa with six low income African countries - Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Madagascar, Malawi, Uganda and Tanzania - reducing newborn mortality rates by an average of 29 per cent over the past 10 years.

“(T) he fact that during 2006 several large African countries have reported a dramatic reduction in the risk of child deaths gives us new hope of more rapid progress to save Africa’s children,” she says.

- DAVID ADAMS