CAUSES OF NEONATAL DEATHS
The most common causes of death in the
neonatal period are infections, including septicaemia,
meningitis, respiratory infections, diarrhoea,
and neonatal tetanus (32%), followed by
birth asphyxia and injuries (29%), and prematurity
(24%).11 The data available are a mixture of
official sources and hospital and community
based studies. In developing countries, the rate
of home deliveries is high, and the percentage of
deliveries assisted by a skilled attendant is low:
in Africa it ranges from 37% in sub-Saharan
Africa to 69% in North Africa, in Asia from 29%
in South Asia to 66% in East Asia and the Pacific
region. In South America and the Caribbean, it is
about 83%.11 Establishing the numbers and
causes of neonatal deaths is therefore difficult
because a high percentage of babies are delivered
and die at home without ever being in contact
with trained healthcare workers and therefore
without ever reaching the statistics.
Neonatal care settings and practices are very
different in different countries. In most African
studies, the neonatal population includes mainly
term babies looked after in high dependency
units, with scarce supportive and monitoring
equipment, overcrowding, poor staffing levels,
and difficulty in providing even basic supportive
treatment.12 In contrast, many of the Indian