Neonatal mortality and causes of death in Kersa Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Kersa HDSS), Ethiopia, 2008-2013

Monday, 15th of August 2016

Matern Health Neonatol Perinatol. 2016 Jul 19;2:7. doi: 10.1186/s40748-016-0035-8. eCollection 2016.

Neonatal mortality and causes of death in Kersa Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Kersa HDSS), Ethiopia, 2008-2013

Assefa N¹, Lakew Y², Belay B¹, Kedir H¹, Zelalem D¹, Baraki N¹, Damena M¹, Oljira L¹, Ashenafi W¹, Dedefo M³.

Author information

¹College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, P.O.Box 1494, Harar, Ethiopia.
²Ethiopian Public Health Association, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
³College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, P.O.Box 1494, Harar, Ethiopia ; College of Computing and Informatics, Haramaya University, Harar, Ethiopia.

Abstract below; full text is at http://mhnpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40748-016-0035-8

BACKGROUND:

In the world, Neonatal mortality accounts for 40 % of death of children under the age of 5 years. Majority of neonatal deaths occur in developing countries outside of formal health system, among which death in the first hour of first day of their life constitute the huge bulk. This analysis is intended to estimate neonatal mortality rates and identify the leading causes of death based on the surveillance data over 6 years period in Kersa health and demographic surveillance system (Kersa HDSS) site, Eastern Ethiopia.

METHODS:

Kersa HDSS is an open dynamic cohort of population established in 2007. The surveillance started after conducting a baseline census followed by population update and events registration on house-to-house visits every 6 months. Data were collected using verbal autopsy (VA) questionnaire from close relatives (usually mothers in this case) and causes of deaths were assigned by 2 to 3 physicians. This analysis was done based on 301 neonatal deaths and 10,934 live births occurred during 2008 to 2013.

RESULTS:

The overall neonatal death rate during the study period was 27.5 per 1000 live births. Nearly all neonatal deaths (94 %) occurred at home. More than four-fifth (82.4 %) of the deaths was occurred in the first week of life. More than 80 % of the deaths were due to perinatal causes. Bacterial sepsis of the newborn accounted for 31.2 % followed by birth asphyxia and perinatal respiratory disorder (28.2 %), and prematurity (17.3 %). Higher number of death was observed in Tolla and Bereka sub-districts located at the southern parts of the study site which are away from the main road network.

CONCLUSION:

The overall neonatal mortality over 6 years is the same to the national average (27 per 1000 live births). The leading causes of neonatal death were bacterial sepsis of newborn and birth asphyxia. Community-based skilled health care delivery during birth should be emphasized.

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