Protecting Our Babies: Tackling Newborn Mortality

New Delhi: Little Lakshmi falls asleep as her mother comforts her with soft rubs over her head. This could be a perfect picture of love only if the duo was not in the hospital.

Born prematurely, Lakshmi’s lungs are underdeveloped, resulting in respiratory distress. Her mother’s heart aches to see the baby on a ventilator fighting for every single breath. But she is hopeful.

“Infections are quite common in preterm babies,” says Padma Bhushan Dr Neelam Kler, Chairperson, Department of Neonatology at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

Dr Kler specialises in neonatology. She looks after the healthcare needs of babies who are 0-28 days old.

The neonatal period is the most vulnerable and the risk of disease and death is the highest during this time. The risk factors include premature birth, infections, birth asphyxia and congenital malformations.

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Neonatal mortality makes up for 40-50 per cent of under-five child mortality, she says.

About 40-50 per cent of the babies who die during the neonatal period are premature or have low birth weight. Around 20 per cent of them may develop sepsis; 15-18 per cent may have asphyxia; 9-10 per cent of babies may have congenital malformations, resulting in complications or death.

Preventing Neonatal Mortality

The neonatal mortality rate in India came down from 29.5 per 1,000 live births in 2015-16 to 24.9 in 2019-21, as per the National Family Health Survey-5. To keep this downward trend intact, Dr Kler suggests:

1. Improving maternal health
2. Easy access to healthcare, especially in rural areas
3. More beds and facilities in neonatal ICU
4. Better antenatal care and skilled care at the time of birth

Also Read: Blog: Can Rural Health Investments In India Empower Women To Shape Their Own Destinies?

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In a world post COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental well-being, self-care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.