Organization of neonatal care services and its importance
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B. Atasay
Abstract
Universally 4 million newborns die and another 4 million are stillborn every year. 98% of these neonatal deaths take place in the developing countries. Looking at the state of the world's newborns one can see that neonatal mortality rate is about 4–5 per 1000 in the developed countries and nearly 10 fold this in the developing world. Causes that underlie these newborn deaths differ according to a country's development rank. According to the WHO estimates for the year 2001, newborns die due to infections (32%), birth asphyxia and trauma (29%), prematurity (24%) and congenital anomalies (10%), mostly in the developing countries.
When organizing neonatal care services in a country or a region, priorities should be decided by looking at neonatal and perinatal mortality rates and causes of neonatal and perinatal deaths. Causes of neonatal and perinatal deaths in the developing countries have been documented and reflect some common underlying problems in the health systems.
Starting points in the organization of neonatal health care services seem to include: improving women's health and social status, family planning practices, antenatal care and safe delivery conditions. Attention should also be paid to neonatal resuscitation, essential newborn care and sick newborn care practices. Communities and health professionals should be advocates of newborn health in order to seek and deliver newborn health care. Existing health systems should be re-organized to host regionalized perinatal care.
Copyright © 2003 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
Articles in the same Issue
- Message from the President of the WCPM
- Message from the President of the WAPM
- Antalya Consensus on Perinatal Care:The Report of the 2nd World Congress of Perinatal Medicine for Developing Countries, 1–5 October 2002, Antalya, Turkey
- Reduction in mortality needs a bit more than the science of perinatology
- Global, regional and national perinatal and neonatal mortality
- Maternal mortality in Turkey
- Maternal mortality in developing countries
- Organization of neonatal care services and its importance
- The Misgav Ladach method – a step forward in operative technique in obstetrics
- Monitoring the IUGR fetus
- Massive obstetric hemorrhage
- Breech deliveries and cesarean section
- Iron supplementation in pregnancy
- Antenatal diagnosis and prognosis of conjoined twins – a case report
- Preliminary report on a new and noninvasive method for the assessment of fetal lung maturity
- Perinatal mortality rate – hospital based study during 1998–2001 at Hacettepe University
- The effect of glucocorticoid therapy on prevention of early neonatal complications in preterm delivery
- Congress Calendar
Articles in the same Issue
- Message from the President of the WCPM
- Message from the President of the WAPM
- Antalya Consensus on Perinatal Care:The Report of the 2nd World Congress of Perinatal Medicine for Developing Countries, 1–5 October 2002, Antalya, Turkey
- Reduction in mortality needs a bit more than the science of perinatology
- Global, regional and national perinatal and neonatal mortality
- Maternal mortality in Turkey
- Maternal mortality in developing countries
- Organization of neonatal care services and its importance
- The Misgav Ladach method – a step forward in operative technique in obstetrics
- Monitoring the IUGR fetus
- Massive obstetric hemorrhage
- Breech deliveries and cesarean section
- Iron supplementation in pregnancy
- Antenatal diagnosis and prognosis of conjoined twins – a case report
- Preliminary report on a new and noninvasive method for the assessment of fetal lung maturity
- Perinatal mortality rate – hospital based study during 1998–2001 at Hacettepe University
- The effect of glucocorticoid therapy on prevention of early neonatal complications in preterm delivery
- Congress Calendar
