2017 proved most deadliest for newborns in KP

PESHAWAR: The year 2017 proved more fatal for the newborn children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where 16,009 children, out of 400,000 born in the state-run hospitals, died of different causes soon after birth.

Senior paediatricians termed it a lack of adequate neonatal services in the public sector health centres and unnecessary and extraordinary attention given to polio vaccination instead of strengthening routine immunisation.

According to a report issued by the KP Health Department, around 43 children died every day in the hospitals of the province. The three major tertiary care hospitals, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), are not included in the data. The report said that 16009 children had died within 28 days of their birth.

The mortality rate is the number of death in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time.

According to health managers, mortality rate provides an opportunity to get a clear picture of the preventable and non-preventable causes, enabling them to concentrate on the prevention of death due to avoidable causes. Infant mortality refers to the death of children typically those less than one year of age.

It is measured by the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), which is the number of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000live births.

Major causes of infant mortality are birth asphyxia, pneumonia, term birth complications, diarrhoea, malaria measles and malnutrition. The report said that 11,226 children died of multiple causes, measles, diarrhoea, pneumonia and malnutrition, etc. Among all the 25 districts, Charsadda which is close to the provincial capital, proved the most fatal for the newborn, where 6811 children, out of 16702 newborn last year, died.

In Charsadda alone, 6811 children lost lives before seeing the first birthday.

Charsadda was followed by Peshawar district where 494 out of 28007 children died last year.

Similarly, 1,689 children died in Bannu, 602 in Dera Ismail Khan, 384 in Abbottabad, 364 in Haripur, 808 in Swat, 235 in Kohat, 130 in Swabi, 99 in Mansehra, 85 in Chitral, 115 in Malakand, 55 in Buner, 74 in Lower Dir and 29 in Nowshera.

According to the report, 395 women died during delivery due to different reasons.