‘2.6 million children die before six months’

Tom Sangala February 22, 2018

514 1 minute read

A report of the United Nations on Newborn Mortality indicates that about 2.6 million children are dying every year before they reach six months worldwide.

United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) launched the report together with Every Child Alive Campaign at Thyolo District Hospital, with a call for Malawi to do more in ending child and maternal mortality deaths.

Every Child Alive is a global campaign to demand and deliver solutions on behalf of the world’s children, starting with newborns.

“Through the campaign, Unicef is issuing an urgent appeal to governments, healthcare providers, donors, the private sector, families and businesses to keep every child alive by recruiting, training, retaining and managing sufficient numbers of health workers with expertise in maternal and newborn care and guaranteeing clean, functional health facilities equipped with water, soap and electricity, within the reach of every mother and baby,” reads the statement in part.

However, the report, ‘Newborn Mortality’, notes that, despite being a low-income country, Malawi is making strides in reducing infant mortality.

The report cites factors such as improved access to quality health care among expectant women as being behind progress being registered in Malawi.

For instance, it indicates that, in 2000, over half of women giving birth in Malawi did so with the support of trained personnel. It says the figures have increased to 90 percent in 2016 and, subsequently, the infant mortality rate has declined from 41 in every 1,000 live births in 2,000 to 23 in 2016.

Unicef launched the report and campaign at Thyolo District Hospital because it is one of the star performers in reducing infant mortality, having reduced cases of death from 19 in every 1,000 in 2014 to 9 per every 1,000 in 2017.

Thyolo District Director of Health and Social Welfare Services, Arnold Jumbe, said cases of death are still relatively high in the district because of teenage pregnancies.

“Last year, about 38 percent of all mothers who gave birth were teenagers. This creates a problem because these mothers give birth to babies who are too big for their age,” Jumbe said.

Thyolo District neonatal focal person, Tabitha Mikeka, said the hospital could further reduce infant mortality if it gets more resources and equipment.