26 February 2004
Lagos — Ethiopia stands fourth in the neonatal morbidity and mortality rate in the world, said the Ethiopian Health Ministry on Monday.
The ministry made the remarks in Addis Ababa at the opening of a meeting organized under the theme "Healthy Newborn Partnership".
Access to early prevention and management of complications in pregnancy and delivery were still very low due to lack of adequate health services, the ministry was quoted by the Ethiopian News Agency as saying.
Advocacy and mobilization through partnership of pertinent institutions would be essential to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
The ministry said that strengthening the primary healthcare activities by fully involving the community in the health promotion and disease prevention activities would help to reduce the problem.
Despite the various efforts, women in the reproductive health group and their newborns as well as children under five years are facing unacceptable death and illness, according to the ministry.
It noted that the Ethiopian government with partner organizations attempted to identify high-risk areas for tetanus and carried out subsequent supplemental immunization campaigns to boost routine immunization service.
Also at the meeting, Director of Family and Reproductive Health of the WHO, Doyin Oluwole, said that home deliveries accounted for 70 to 80 per cent of deliveries in Africa and that most of the recorded neonatal deaths occurred in the first seven days of birth.
The director said that neonatal and maternal mortality ratio were closely linked and inadequate skills for maternal and newborn emergencies, poor management of equipment and supplies were among the major challenges in the region.
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