Improvements in immediate newborn care and interventions that target common killers like birth asphyxia offered in communities and rural health facilities can dramatically change the number of babies surviving their first month of life, said experts speaking at a seminar on strategies to improve newborn survival.

The seminar was hosted by Aga Khan University and Save the Children, an international NGO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health’s National Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Programme and National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Health Care.

“Newborn mortality rates in Pakistan are amongst the highest in Asia with the lowest rate of reduction. Within the newborn period, asphyxia, prematurity and sepsis account for almost 90 per cent of all deaths,” said Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta, Head, Division of Women and Child Health, AKU. This makes achieving the Millennium Development Goal 4, to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by 2015, quite challenging.

Health experts recommended investing in both community-based and outreach care and facility-based care. President of Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Dr Shershah Syed while speaking about community interventions, said that the interventions would focus on encouraging families to seek care and teaching birth attendants immediate newborn care and resuscitation. Essential practices, such as drying and wrapping the baby immediately after birth and breastfeeding within the hour were also recommended along with the importance of recognising danger signs in newborns and quickly referring them to an appropriate health care provider or facility as needed.

Quoting the data compiled by the Demographic Health Survey (DHS), Dr Bhutta said that “Seventy per cent of all facilities in Pakistan do not have adequate equipment for newborn resuscitation,” and the need to provide proper equipment to those working at health facilities is becoming “necessary” by each passing day.

Through community engagement and a change in household behaviour and social culture patterns can create the demand for maternal and newborn care in community centres, if the doctors and policy makers are able to address the three main causes of death in newborns, that is diarrhoea, pneumonia and new born infections, 70 per cent of all newborn deaths can be avoided.

“This cannot be done by one organisation or one entity. We need to establish partnerships, develop coalitions and join hands to take this process forward. The Ministry of Health will lead this campaign and we need to support them in any way we can,” said Dr Amanullah Khan, Director Health, Save the Children.

While stressing the importance of public and private collaboration, he added that all stakeholders are responsible for improving child health in Pakistan. “We would like to see all the stakeholders – research institutions, the Ministry of Health, policy makers and implementers, all joining together to address newborn health in Pakistan,” said David Wright, Country Director, Save the Children.

However, when asked that why it is taking years to follow up goals that have been achieved by Bangladesh and other countries that are supposedly ‘lagging’ behind Pakistan, Dr Bhutta replied that Pakistan needs to take one step at a time and that through proper planning and consultation, these goals will be achieved. “It will take time but these goals are not impossible to achieve.”