Where infants die, new mums live

KATHMANDU, SEP 02 -
Experts have urged Nepal to address a serious policy flaw that has made it one of the worst countries in saving infant lives even as it has gained international accolades for having made an exemplary progress in reducing maternal mortality.

Reviewing Nepal ’s achievements in meeting the deadline for Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), experts said Nepal has the highest infant mortality rate in South Asia and that it requires a major shift in focus on the survival of newborn babies. The Nepal demographic health survey shows that over 20,000 newborn babies die annually in the country.

“It is an irony that in Nepal mothers are being saved while the children are dying,” Dr Baburam Marasini, senior official at the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), told a three-day consultative meeting organised by the ministry with support from the Unicef’s Regional Office for South Asia.

However, Nepal has made significant reduction in the maternal mortality rate—770 deaths per 100,000 births to 170 deaths in 2010 as per UN estimation.

The consultative meeting brings together over 100 regional and global experts from the US, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and China, among other countries.

The number of neonatal deaths—deaths of babies less than 28 days old—has not seen a decline in the last one decade, which experts said, calls for an urgent revision of the current programmes and policies of the government.

“ Nepal is among the five South-Asian countries with high neonatal deaths after India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan,” said the regional maternal and newborn health specialist at Unicef, Nepal , Dr Nuzhat Rafique.

In 2008, the government had started the Community-based Newborn Care Package (CBNCP), which addressed major issues involved in the deaths of neonatals such as infection, birth injury and birth asphyxia. The programme, however, did not work well, according to government officials.

In the three-day meeting, the World Health Organization recommended nine ‘interventions’ that could help reduce the number of neonatal deaths. The recommendations include preparations and management of pre-term birth, birth of a baby in less than 37 weeks, birth complications and management of neonatal infections.

Health Ministry officials say the country’s policies first need a vision before the recommendations are implemented.

“For instance, in case of pre-term birth, antenatal corticosteroids, a medication given to the mother that would help the baby to breathe normally once it is born, is not included in any of our policies,” said Dr Padam Bahadur Chand, chief of the Policy, Planning and International Cooperation Division.

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