Preventing Neonatal and Perinatal Mortality

There are about 3.7 million neonatal deaths per year worldwide. The major causes of neonatal mortality are asphyxia at birth, low birth weight/prematurity, and infection. Each of these causes account for about 1 million neonatal deaths per year. In addition, there are about 3 million stillbirths per year, with at least half being intrapartum deaths. Neonatal deaths occur mostly in Asia (2.1 million) and Africa (1.2 million). Effective interventions and percentages of deaths averted include postnatal care (16-42%), childbirth/antepartum care (20-36%), and antenatal care (4-14%). The Global Network tested the WHO Essential Newborn Care package of childbirth/intrapartum and postnatal care (universal precautions, routine neonatal care, thermoregulation, breastfeeding, kangaroo skin-to-skin care, care of the small baby, common illnesses) in both community-based and first-level facility-based intervention studies including almost 200,000 births. Perinatal mortality was decreased in both studies. If extrapolated worldwide, this intervention may save about 1 million lives per year.