Pakistan is the riskiest country for newborns: UNICEF
report
Out of every 1,000 children born in
Pakistan, 46 die at birth, a report released by UNICEF said on Tuesday,
singling out Pakistan as the riskiest country for newborns.
“It’s abysmal,” said Dr. Ghazna
Khalid, a leading obstetrician in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Province. “We don’t need front-line medical doctors. We have plenty of them. We
need skilled midwives,” the Associated Press (AP) quoted him saying.
The report which is a part of
UNICEF's new campaign showed that South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa as the
worst places for a child to be born. The report further said that after
Pakistan, the Central African Republic is the next riskiest country for
newborns, and Afghanistan is the third.
“Babies born in Japan, Iceland, and
Singapore have the best chance at survival, while newborns in Pakistan, the
Central African Republic and Afghanistan face the worst odds,” it said, noting
that “more than 80 percent of all newborn deaths are caused by three
preventable and treatable conditions,” the AP reported.
UNICEF says as many as 3 million
children could be saved each year with an investment in quality care at
delivery. In Pakistan, Dr. Khalid said 80 percent of newborn deaths could be
prevented with skilled birth attendants.
The UN children's agency also
appealed on properly training midwives and allowing better “access to
well-trained midwives, along with proven solutions like clean water,
disinfectants, breastfeeding within the first hour, skin-to-skin contact and
good nutrition.”
According to the AP report, Khalid,
who has conducted extensive research into mother and child health and has
written international papers on the subject, said that lack of funding,
corruption, and misplaced government priorities all contribute to insufficient
investments in the training of midwives.
23.02.2018
Don’t make a permanent decision on
temporary feelings
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