• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Group urges govt to accelerate efforts to reduce, end preventable newborn deaths

Group urges govt to accelerate efforts to reduce, end preventable newborn deaths

A new national newborn advocacy group, the Purple Baby Project, has urged governments across the world to take collective action to accelerate efforts at reducing/ending preventable newborn deaths to commemorate this year’s preterm celebration.

The World Prematurity Day (WPD) has been celebrated annually on November 17 since 2009 and is used to raise awareness of the burden of preterm birth globally and its associated challenges.

The theme for this year’s WPD is, ‘Zero Separation. Act Now! Keep parents and babies born too soon together.’ According to experts, separation between parents and babies can cause severe and long-term health and developmental issues in newborns and it also affects parents’ mental health.

To commemorate the day, however, a piece of newborn preservice teaching equipment was donated to the clinical skills centre, CMUL (NEST 360) to celebrate all preterms managed in the Unit, with the formal launch of a Preterm Mothers Support Forum a national newborn advocacy group; The Purple Baby Project.

Organised by the Neonatology-Perinatology Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) with collaboration with NEST 360 and Studio 24, to unite under the global call to “Act now! Keep parents and babies born too soon together”.

“There is a great need for intensive advocacy and awareness creation for all stakeholders; government, healthcare workers, NGOs, communities and families to take steps to prevent preterm births where possible, and support the care of such babies, improve health systems, and save lives of the ‘leaders of tomorrow’,” said, Chinyere Ezeaka, head, Neonatal unit, LUTH.

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According to her, every year, an estimated 15 million babies are born preterm (before 37 completed weeks of gestation), and this number is rising, which is now said to be about 1 in 10 children. She states further that three-quarters of these deaths could be prevented with current, cost-effective interventions.

Prematurity according to medical experts is the leading cause of deaths in all children aged less than five years old. Other causes are birth asphyxia (baby not breathing at birth), infections and newborn jaundice complications.

However, Nigeria in view of its population carries a disproportionate burden with the highest numbers of newborn deaths in Africa and the second highest in the world. “With early and good antenatal care, some of these conditions can be identified and managed appropriately to prevent preterm delivery,” said Ezeaka.

Chris Oputa, the team lead, Purple Baby Project and CEO Studio 24, said the team has been researching in collaboration with LUTH and other stakeholders. However, the level of awareness about preterm has not been enough to generate the right action towards prevention.

Speaking further, Oputa posits that people are not likely to produce a positive action without first, appreciating the shared size of the problem and will not be able to give support the way they should. “We believe that if we get the message out properly, we will get people to get involved,” he said.

In many instances, the direct causes of preterm births are not immediately identifiable. However, experts said sizeable proportions are known and preventable. Accordingly, they said some direct causes of prematurity are diverse.

According to experts, most of these babies are often immediately transferred to the newborn unit for specialized care thereby creating emotional stress for the family especially the mothers. Hence, the economic burden and the physical demand on the society and parents at large are often unquantifiable.

According to Beatrice Ezenwa, consultant newborn unit, LUTH, there is an urgent need to strengthen healthcare systems and provide essential drugs and equipment. Similarly, she posits that the country has to balance the needs of babies born too soon, too small, or too sick and their families, and institute family centred newborn care in all facilities.

“Prolonged skin to skincare (Kangaroo Mother Care) is an evidenced-based low-cost innovation that is exceptionally effective,” Ezenwa said, adding that the financial burden is enormous, hence the need to advocate for national health insurance for all mothers and their babies in Nigeria.