FG raises concern over 871,000 premature annual born in Nigeria

Federal Government at the commemoration of the 2016 World Maturity and Pneumonia day said Nigeria has an estimated 871, 000 babies born preterm every year in the country, as it assured that its policy on newborn health could address the recurrence.

Further records from the Federal Ministry of Health also stated that  while pneumonia contributes 15 percent to under-five mortality, prematurity accounts for 10 percent of the causes of neo-natal deaths.

To address these concerns, Isaac Adewole,the Minister of Health said there is a renewed commitment by the federal Government with the launch of three policy documents relating to Newborn Health.

The plan includes: Nigeria Every Newborn Action Plan,Essential Newborn Care training package and National Chlorhexidine Scale Up strategy document

Speaking on the Nigeria Every Newborn Action Plan,the minister explained that  it  highlights government’s commitment to end preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths by year 2030;adding that it takes into consideration the evidence from the 2011 Newborn Situation analysis;the Nigerian Newborn Health Bottlenecks Analysis;the 2014 Nigeria’s call to action to save every newborn’s life and elaborates the Newborn component of the Integrated Maternal,Newborn,and child Health Strategy.

He stated that the federal government  is working on key interventions to  promote essential care during childbirth and in the postnatal period for every mother and baby,including antenatal corticosteroids given to prenant women at the risk of preterm labour to strenghten the babies’ lungs.

The  intervention efforts are  aimed at reducing the burden of disease die to pneumonia include the adoption of the Integrated Community Case Management of Childhood illness,(ICCM) by the Nigerian government  as a cornerstone strategy to deal with pneumonia,diahrrea and malaria menace”the Minister explained.

While assuring on capacity of health workers to address the concerns he said:”In terms of service delivery,the capacity of health workers are being built on the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses,IMCI and Essential Newborn Care to further equip them to efficiently provide quality care at the health facilities.

Health experts also said that babies born too soon have a higher risk of death that is thirteen times higher than babies born at term,raising concern that one of every three newborn deaths is attributable to complications of prematurity.

According to some health experts,some of the factors that predispose pregnant women to preterm delivery and under-five children to pneumonia are multi-faceted, which include poverty and low literacy level among women,especially in rural and poor peri-urban populations,and have facilitated and continue to propagate disparities in health and health outcomes.