Over 230,000 Died In Nigeria Alone In 2012

                          
A new report titled ‘Ending Preventable Newborn Deaths in Nigeria’, released by Save the Children on Tuesday in Abuja stated that despite some progress in improving health outcomes and ongoing initiatives and reforms, the impact had been limited and very unequal across Nigeria.


The report, which identified Nigeria’s poorly financed and highly fragmented healthcare system, plagued by resource shortage as a major problem, revealed that in 2012 alone, “over 230,000 died in Nigeria during their first and only day of life, or were stillborn where the heart stopped beating during labour.”
The report lamented how public investment in health is low- a mere 7.5 per cent of total government expenditure- while there  is a heavy reliance on out of pockets- 60 per cent of total health expenditure.
The report said, “This makes the system very regressive resulting in the rich benefiting more from healthcare and the poor often left out.”
The Country Director of Save the Children, Susan Grant, stressed how the first 24 hours of a child’s life were the most dangerous day of a child’s life.
She stated that globally, more that one million babies die each year on their first and only day of life.
“These deaths happen because of causes like premature births and complications during child birth- these include prolonged labour, pre-eclampsia and infection,” she stressed,
According to her,  most of these could be prevented if quality health workers are present at the time of delivery.
Grant said, “The new report shows how up to half of these first day deaths could be prevented if the mother and the baby had access to free health care and a skilled midwife.”
The group called for a declaration to end all preventable newborn mortality, saving two million newborn  lives around the world and ensuring that by 2025, every birth is attended by trained and equipped health workers who could deliver essential newborn health interventions.