The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #36248

Irma Ramos, MD, MPH, Violeta Billinghurst, RN, MPH, and Luis Tam, MD, DrPH. CARE Peru, Apartado Postal 11-0628, Lima, Lima 11, Peru, 51-1-4317430, ramos@carepe.org.pe

Rural Peru has a perinatal mortality rate of 28 per 1000 pregnancies, and a neonatal mortality rate of 31 per 1000 live births. Few studies have assessed the magnitude and causes of peri/neonatal mortality in rural Peru, and interventions are seldom targeted to their major determinants. CARE and the Centers for Disease Control have developed a tool to analyze the causes of peri/neonatal death named BABIES (for Birthweight, Age-of-birth, Boxes for Intervention Evaluation System). According to BABIES, reported deaths are classified in a two-dimensional matrix according to time of death and birth weight. Each of the resulting 5 cells corresponds to a different cause of death, and therefore needs a different intervention. In application of BABIES, CARE Peru collected information of 86 perinatal and 28 late neonatal deaths (among 2196 pregnancies)in the rural province of San Roman. Data were collected using health facility and community registers and considered accurate and complete. Results showed a perinatal mortality rate of 39 per 1000 pregnancies and a neonatal death rate of 36 per 1000 live births, both higher than the Peruvian average. Most children died in the 1500+ gr birthweight group at the following death times (in decreasing order of frequency): before birth, 8-28 days after birth, 2-7 days after birth and 1-24 hours after birth. CARE and the Ministry of Health have used these results to design a two-year intervention which will prioritize community- and facility-based information and clinical services during the prenatal and late neonatal periods. USAID is funding this intervention.

Learning Objectives:

• At the end of the presentation, the participants will understand the methods and rationale of the BABIES tools for the analysis of peri/neonatal deaths, and how to plan an intervention to improve these conditions based on this analysis.

Keywords: Perinatal Health, Data/Surveillance

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Ministry of Health. CARE Peru.
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: I work for CARE Peru.