Director of the division Dr Shyam Raj Upreti said it will start Community Based Newborn Care Package in Palpa, Dhankuta, Bardiya, Doti, Kavre, Chitwan, Sunsari, Parsa, Morang and Dang this year and expand it to other districts depending on its success. [break]
“We will mobilize female health volunteers to raise awareness and treat newborns,” says Dr Upreti. Dr Upreti says majority of the newborn (below one month) deaths are due to infection, hypothermia (cold)-by bathing baby immediately after birth and problems in breastfeeding. “We will also have facilities to treat the babies suffering from suffocation” Dr Upreti adds.
The pilot project will cost around 10 million rupees in each district with the government funding the project in three districts, United Nations Children´s Fund (UNICEF) in three, Plan International in two, and Care Nepal and Save the Children in one district each.
The Demographic Health Survey (DHS) of Nepal, 2006 shows that the mortality rate of children under five years is 61 per 1,000, with the component of newborn being a whopping 33 every 1,000. Similarly, the infant (under one year) mortality rate is 48 per 1,000.
While the rate of 61 per 1,000 is significantly lower than the 165 per 1,000 of 1991 the rate is still very high. “The majority of deaths below five years are due to the newborn deaths (33 out of 61). So, we have focused on the newborns,” Dr Upreti reasons.
“We also felt that while we got down the rate for under five years from 91 per 1,000 in 2001 to 61 in 2006, we could only bring down the newborn mortality rate to 33 from 38.6 in 2001,” Dr Upreti further explains the reason for focusing on newborn children.
The Millennium Development Goal has set a target of reducing the mortality rate to 54 per 1,000 for children under five years and Dr Upreti feels the goal can be achieved in the next couple of years. “But the newborn mortality rate, which accounts for more than 50% of the child mortality rate (33 out of 61), may provide a major hurdle because we have not been able to significantly reduce it,” Dr Upreti warns.
“But we hope this project will help to bring down newborn mortality rate as well,” Dr Upreti says.
premdhakal@myrepublica.com
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