• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Monday, September 22, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Health

How to attack Africa’s neonatal mortality problem

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
June 1, 2017
in Health
Reading Time: 3 mins read
1
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram
IMAGE

Credit: Michigan State University

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Giving birth at home is the most significant risk factor for neonatal deaths in major sections of Africa – a continent that continues to be plagued by the highest neonatal mortality rates in the world, indicates a new study by Michigan State University scholars.

In both East and West Africa, a substantial proportion of births are still delivered without a doctor or other health-care professional. Unprotected water sources and older mothers giving birth also help explain why home-births are so dangerous.

The findings are meant to provide guidance toward the United Nations' longstanding goal of reducing deaths among children under 5. Worldwide, child mortality rates decreased 53 percent between 1990 and 2015, according to the U.N.

Africa, however, had the smallest reductions in child morality rates during that 25-year period and still has the highest neonatal morality rate of 28 deaths per 1,000 live births. Nearly half of under-5 child deaths occur during the neonatal period (the first 30 days of life). The U.N.'s newest goals – the Sustainable Development Goals, a 15-year strategy launched in early 2016 – include reducing the neonatal mortality rate in all countries to 12 deaths per 1,000 live births.

"Africa still has quite a way to go in terms of reducing neonatal mortality and where interventions are targeted is going to be very important," said Sue Grady, associate professor of geography and lead investigator of the study.

Grady and a team of students analyzed demographic and health-survey data for mothers in 14 sub-Saharan African countries, for a total sample of 344,264 births. The findings are published online in the journal Geospatial Health.

Among the findings and recommendations:

  • Women reported unreliable transportation services to a health-care facility and inability to pay for the high cost of maternity care, including prenatal visits. Public officials should continue focusing on enhancing the availability, accessibility and quality of health-care services, the authors argue.
  • Officials should focus on ensuring the availability of affordable clean water and sanitation for hygienic delivery conditions, particularly in rural communities. Exposure to unclean water after birth can contribute to umbilical cord and intestinal infections in the baby.
  • Health-care financing should include training of health professionals such as midwives and even relatives who can recognize and address complications, including asphyxia, infections and the need for child warmth and breastfeeding immediately after delivery.
  • Given the trend toward women having children later in life, health officials should emphasize improvements in prenatal care, including family planning education and increased training of birth attendants to manage and encourage deliveries for women of advanced maternal age at health-care facilities.
  • Cultural barriers pertaining to neonatal mortality should be addressed. The study found that female babies in West Africa were more likely to die, perhaps due partly to a gender bias and preference for sons. Mothers also reported not wanting their last child.

Interventions should include continuing to provide education to women and empowering them to make their own decisions on contraceptive use, Grady said. Further research should explore the reasons why some mothers express not wanting their last child.

###

Media Contact

Andy Henion
[email protected]
517-355-3294
@MSUnews

http://msutoday.msu.edu/journalists/

############

Story Source: Materials provided by Scienmag

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Suspension of COVID-Era SNAP Benefits Intensifies Food Insecurity and Financial Strain in Households

September 22, 2025
Ochsner Novant Health 65 Plus – Bellview Welcomes Dr. Brandon M. McElroy

Ochsner Novant Health 65 Plus – Bellview Welcomes Dr. Brandon M. McElroy

September 22, 2025

Study Finds Dental Health Mirrors Overall Well-Being in College Students

September 22, 2025

Hebrew SeniorLife Researchers Recognized for Groundbreaking Study Linking Room Temperature to Cognitive Function

September 22, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    156 shares
    Share 62 Tweet 39
  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    69 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 17
  • Tailored Gene-Editing Technology Emerges as a Promising Treatment for Fatal Pediatric Diseases

    50 shares
    Share 20 Tweet 13
  • Scientists Achieve Ambient-Temperature Light-Induced Heterolytic Hydrogen Dissociation

    49 shares
    Share 20 Tweet 12

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Suspension of COVID-Era SNAP Benefits Intensifies Food Insecurity and Financial Strain in Households

Ochsner Novant Health 65 Plus – Bellview Welcomes Dr. Brandon M. McElroy

Study Finds Dental Health Mirrors Overall Well-Being in College Students

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.