A consultant paediatrician at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Kwara State, Prof. Olugbenga Mokuolu, has said it is estimated that globally four million babies die yearly in their first four weeks of life (neonatal period.)

According to him, that is more than 10,000 deaths per day and about seven babies per minute. He stated that virtually 99 per cent of the deaths occur in low and middle income countries.

He spoke while delivering the 114th inaugural lecture at UNITH on Friday. The lecture was titled, 'Saving the innocent from unsolicited encounters: the worm as a sharp threshing instrument.'

Mokuolu, who is a professor of Child Health at the University of Ilorin, said despite the staggering figures, it had been estimated that nearly three million newborn deaths could be prevented annually by improving access to the low-cost and low-tech interventions that are not currently reaching those mostly in need.

He said 284,000 neonatal deaths were recorded in Nigeria in 2009, resulting in 778 neonatal deaths per day. According to him, neonatal deaths are caused by preterm deliveries with their attendant complications in the babies; perinatal asphyxia; infections, respiratory problems, neonatal jaundice and congenital malformations.

Mokuola said low cost but appropriate technologies and care strategies were important panacea for reducing neonatal deaths in Nigeria. He stated that some of the strategies included the recycle incubation technique, use of oxygen concentrations and fabricated radiant heaters among others.

He called on the government to scale up some of these technologies and make them available at secondary and primary levels of health care to improve access to quality health care.

He suggested that all pregnant women should be supported to have access to Intermittent Preventive Therapy using Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine as a way of reducing maternal anaemia, delivery of low birth weight babies and prevention of malaria in the new born.

“Owing to the large proportion of newborn deaths attributable to prenatal asphyxia, government, international and local partners together with the Paediatric Association of Nigeria should engage in active participation with a view to ensuring that everyone of reproductive age is acquainted with the knowledge and principles of the neonatal resuscitation. The Nigerian Society for Neonatal Medicine and the Society for Obstetrics and Gynaecology should also be actively involved in the programme.