Four Million New Born Children Die Per Annum

Every year four million new born children are dieing. Three quarters of these cases could be prevented with minor effort, reports the British magazine “The Lancet”. Ninety nice per cent of the babies who do not survive the first four weeks, are born in the world’s poor and poorest countries. Afghanistan, China, India, Ethiopia, Nigeria or Indonesia are worst affected.

According to declarations of experts the main reasons for the death of these babies are infections and premature births. Tetanus kills 500,000 babies per year.

According to Joy Lawn from the Institute of Child Health in Cape Town, a majority of these cases could be avoided by means of tetanus immunisations for pregnant women, improved hygienic conditions at birth, breast feeding and antibiotics against infantile infections.

Another big problem is medical care provision and medicine supply. More than half of the women in Africa and South Asia give birth to their children without any qualified midwives. In many places there is a lack of skilled employees, especially in poor rural areas.

“According to our analysis the health budget of many of the poorest countries would have to be doubled or even quadrupled to save the life of new born children and their mothers”, writes Rudolf Knippenberg from UNICEF in “The Lancet”.

The 75 countries with the highest mortality rates need an additional U.SD$4.1 billion per year to get bring the mortality rate under control. Countries like Sri Lanka, Honduras or Botswana showed that relief is possible. Targeted action by their governments have halved the death rates of babies in the recent years.