WASHINGTON DC—A new report shows that over one million babies die on their birth day every year around the world.
The baby’s first day is one of the hardest days of his or her life—in the USA as well as other countries—and survival of the first day is a hurdle that many children have to get through.
The leading cause of newborn deaths are prematurity, birth complications, and severe infections.
“It’s hard to imagine the depth of one mother’s pain in losing her baby the very day she gives birth,” president of Save the Children, Carolyn Miles, stated, “yet, this report is full of hope. It shows that there is a growing movement to save newborn lives and growing evidence that we can do it.”
Four products can help save these newborns, Miles says: resuscitation devices, antiseptic chlorhexidine, injectable antibitotics, and steroid injections. Resuscitation devices help babies to breath, antiseptic chlorhexidine can prevent umbilical cord infections, injectable antibiotics treat infections, and steroid injections for women in preterm labor help babies’ lungs develop.
Save the Children aims to make sure that health workers in high risk countries have the materials needed to save newborns. The organizations work with health officials and donors to make the products easily available.
By: Julia Roake
Source: USA Today
Image: USA Today
8 May 2013
09:30am PDT