Jane Namasasu
Ministry of Health, Malawi
Title: Neonates death, a measure of quality of services: Maternal death reviews in five districts in Malawi
Biography
Biography: Jane Namasasu
Abstract
Neonates’ death, a measure of quality of services: Maternal death review in five districts in Malawi
Neonatal mortality in Malawi is very high at 27/1000 live births. These deaths occur within first 28 days of life meaning that 1 in 37 neonates die in the 28 days of life. The leading causes are asphyxia, prematurity, sepsis, pneumonia and many other causes. The majority of these deaths can be prevented by initiating low-cost interventions that health care workers, family members and community can implement. These interventions include Skilled Birth Attendant (SBA) during delivery Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) and Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC). Helping babies breathe is a low-cost intervention which prepares health workers with proper training to act at birth to help babies who cannot breathe immediately to breathe. On the other hand, Kangaroo Mother Care is according to WHO is a care of premature and or low birth weight infants carried skin to skin by the mother or guardian. Available evidence indicates that KMC contributes to humanization of neonatal care bonding between mother and baby in low-income and high-income countries. In this paper, I present maternal death reviews in five district hospitals in Malawi, causes and contributing factors to neonatal deaths, identify quality of care problems, avoidable and remedial factors to improving neonatal care in the future, challenges and responses. Additionally, increasing institutional deliveries and offering quality of service around delivery is an important factor in reducing neonatal mortality.