PRESS RELEASE: Ending Newborn Deaths, Ensuring Every Baby Survives

Save the Children International is the world’s leading independent organization for children, working in 120 countries. SCI is working on different areas i.e. Early Childhood Care Development (ECCD), Basic Education/School Health and Nutrition (BE/SHN), Adolescent Development and Health (AD/H) and the on Prenatal and Newborn (MCHN). The KKK Projects come to it aiming to strengthen the capacity of local government and communities in achieving targets pertaining to MDGs 4 and 5. 

Philippines must tackle inequality in healthcare access and reproductive health issues to prevent thousands of newborn deaths, Save the Children says.

(Manila, Philippines) - The Philippines is among the top 10 countries in the world where there is great inequality in newborn deaths between the richest and poorest populations, according to Save the Children’s study entitled, Ending Newborn Deaths: Ensuring Every Baby Survives, which was launched today. The children’s aid agency urges the country to tackle inequality in healthcare access and the underlying causes of newborn deaths, including maternal undernutrition and ill-access, access to reproductive health services, and prevention of teen pregnancies in order to continue reductions in newborn deaths.

The report revealed that 2.2 million children die during childbirth or within the first day of life; half of which could be prevented if the mother and baby had free healthcare, birth attendance is done by a skilled midwife and access to quality reproductive health services.

“Less than 30 per cent of the babies in the poorest sector of the Philippines are delivered by a skilled birth attendant, compared to nearly 100 per cent in the richest economic bracket.” said Ned Olney, Country Director of Save the Children. “The root problem is the lack of skilled health workers with the right equipment and medical supplies to support mothers, especially in the most rural and remote areas where they are needed the most.”

“In the Philippines, the decline in deaths among children below 5 years of age has slowed down because of the slow decline in neonatal mortality rate. About 32,000 infants die in their first 28 days and prematurity/low birth weight is cited as the leading cause of neonatal death. Low birth weight babies are at highest risk for death”, said Dr. Amado Parawan, Health and Nutrition Advisor of Save the Children. The Philippines is reported to have the highest low birth weight rate among the 11 member countries of the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations).

“The survival of mothers and their newborn babies are closely linked. By addressing the causes of newborn mortality, we will also be able to save the lives of many mothers.” said Ned Olney. 

“By implementing the Reproductive Health law and allowing women and adolescent girls to have access to reproductive health services and information, the lives of these women, adolescent girls and their newborn can be saved. This is crucial especially now when the incidence of teen pregnancy in the country is increasing.“

In a bid to save millions of newborn lives, Save the Children is calling on world leaders, civil society, and the private sector to commit to the Five-Point Newborn Promise:

(1) Issue a defining and accountable declaration to end all preventable newborn mortality, saving 2 million newborn lives a year and stopping the 1.2 million stillbirths during labour

(2) Ensure that by 2025 every birth is attended by trained and equipped health workers who can deliver essential newborn health interventions

(3) Increase expenditure on health to at least the WHO minimum of US$60 per person to pay for the training, equipping and support of health worker

(4) Remove user fees for all maternal, newborn and child health services, including emergency obstetric care; and

(5) The private sector, including pharmaceutical companies, should help address unmet needs by developing innovative solutions esp. for the poorest.

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1. In 2012, 1.013 million babies died on their first day. This is from joint research carried out by Save the Children and Joy Lawn due to be released in a forthcoming Lancet Global Health article - to be published in May 2014.

2. Save the Children is supporting the development of a global plan to reduce newborn deaths called the ‘Every Newborn Action Plan’ (ENAP). This plan calls for a two-thirds reduction in newborn deaths. In 2012 there were 2.9 million newborn deaths. 

If the ENAP target of a two-thirds reduction had been achieved in 2012, approximately 2 million newborn lives could have been saved. Identifying what proportion of first day deaths could be prevented is harder but the draft Every Newborn Action Plan shows that “Skilled care during labour and childbirth with prompt management of complications alone can prevent about 50% of newborn mortality and 45% of intra-partum stillbirths.” These are in effect first day deaths and therefore we can say that half would be prevented.

3. 2011s state of the world’s midwifery (UNFA) describe Intrapartum stillbirth as foetal death after the onset of labour. Intrapartum stillbirth rate based on: Lawn JE, Blencowe H, Pattinson R, et al. Stillbirths: Where? When? Why? How to make the data count? Lancet 2011; 377(9775): 1448-63. http://www.thelancet.com/series/stillbirth. 

Total number of intrapartum stillbirths is updated to 2012 using live births and total births from UN Pop Div latest estimates. Stillbirth refers to a baby born with no signs of life at or after 28 weeks (6 months) of pregnancy. In 2009, there were 2.6 million stillbirths worldwide. 

In our report, we highlight the fact that 45% of these stillbirths – 1.2 million – occurred during labour and childbirth i.e. Intrapartum. This means that the child’s heart was beating before the process of labour began, but stopped during labour or delivery.