Nepal: Government to Scale-Up Neonatal Care

Article posted on eKantipur.com

By Dev Kumar Sunuwar

KATHMANDU, AUG 21 - With a view to bringing down neonatal mortality rate (the first 28 days of life), the Ministry of Health and Population (MoPH) is scaling up the Community-Based Newborn Care Package (CB-NCP) into 24 districts across the country, mainly targeting neonates, as the infection has been one of the leading causes of them.

In 2007, CB-NCP was first experimented in Morang district under the name of Morang Innovative Neonatal Intervention (MINI). As the programme yielded positive results in reducing the neonatal mortality rate in the district, it was expanded to nine more districts—Dhankuta, Sunsari, Parsa, Kavre, Dang, Bardia, Doti and Palpa in 2009.

MoPH is expanding the programme in 14 more districts in 2010, said Parshuram Shrestha, Chief of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) Division under the Department of Health and Services.

“We have been launching a number of child health programmes in the last 10-years. The result, child mortality rate (under five years) has gone down significantly in the country. But we have been unable to reduce the neonatal mortality rate significantly, especially, the neonates under 28-day old,” said Shrestha.

According to MoPH statistics, 54 percent neonates die every year out of the total of 58,000 children under five years of age who die of various diseases.

As per the statistics of the World Health Organisation (WHO), 32 percent neonates die of infection, 29 percent die of birth asphyxia and injury and 24 percent die of prematurity and low birth weight worldwide.

The findings of a study conducted by MoHP’s Child Health Division reveal that neonatal mortality rate came down to 33 per thousand live births in 2006 from 43 in 2001.

After the expansion of CB-NCP, we hope that we will be able to bring down the neonatal mortality rate to 16 by 2015, which is a Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target,” added Shrestha.

He also said female health volunteers in the districts where this package has been launched will make door-to-door visits, give adequate counselling to parents and provide Cotrim P tablets to prevent children from dying of infectious diseases.

According to MoH statistics, over 800,000 babies are born every year. Of them, 82 percent are born at home in unprotected and unsafe conditions.

“Due to unsafe delivery at the community level, there is high risk of neonatal mortality,” said Shrestha.

Let the figures speak

•   54 percent neonates die of infectious diseases, of the total 58,000 children who die of various diseases annually
•   Govt. target to bring down neonatal mortality rate (first 28 days of live) from 33 per 1000 live births to 16 by 2015
•   Over 800,000 babies are born every year, of them 82 percent are born in unprotected and unsafe condition at home

Also ran on The Kathmandu Post