What are the common causes of newborn deaths and are they preventable?
The common causes of newborn deaths in our country are: • Infection – 52% • Asphyxia or lack of oxygen to fetus and newly born baby – 20% • Prematurity, babies born much before completing 9 months of pregnancy – 15% • Congenital malformations, birth defects and other miscellaneous causes – 13% Most of these are preventable to a large extent. What are low birth weight babies and why are they special? Babies born with a birth weight of less than 2500g are low birth weight babies (LBWB), those with birth weight less than 1500gms are very low birth weight babies (VLBW) and those with a weight of less than 1000gms are extremely low birth weight (ELBW). In India nearly one third of all newborn babies have low birth weight. The common causes of low birth weight babies are: • Poor nutritional status of mother • High blood pressure, anaemia, infections • Tobacco use by mother • Low maternal literacy • Pregnancy at young age • Frequent pregnancies • Poor care during pregnancy A large number of t
