title: Neonatal mortality in rural Bangladesh: an exploratory study.
abstract: Bangladesh has a neonatal death rate that is substantially high and demands urgent attention. To assess the causes of neonatal mortality, 1,019 pregnant women were followed up in eight randomly-selected rural areas of the country. Trained female interviewers visited the households of the subjects at four-week intervals to record neonatal deaths (within 28 days after birth). For each death, they administered a structured verbal autopsy questionnaire to the mother and/or a close family member. Based on these field data, three neonatologists arrived at a consensus to assign two causes of death--an originating cause and a direct cause. The neonatal mortality rate was 53.5 per 1,000 livebirths. The originating causes of death were pre-maturity/low birth-weight (30%), difficult labour (16%), unhygienic birth practices (16%), others (4%), and unknown (34%). The direct causes were sepsis (32%), asphyxia (26%), tetanus (15%), respiratory distress (6%), others (6%), and unknown (14%). According to the prevailing causes of neonatal deaths, implementation of intervention programmes, often in the community, that do not depend on highly-technical training or sophisticated equipment should be implemented.
authors.affiliation: Bangladesh Institute of Research for Promotion of Essential & Reproductive Health and Technologies, House 105, Road 9/A (New), Dhanmondi Residential Area Dhaka 1209, Bangladesh. melahi@icddrb.org
authors.forename: Mahbub Elahi
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
authors.forename: Halida H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Akhter
authors.forename: Virasakdi
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chongsuvivatwong
authors.forename: Alan F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Geater
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D012423:Rural Health; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires