title: When, Where, and Why Are Babies Dying? Neonatal Death Surveillance and Review in Bangladesh.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Better data on cause of, and factors contributing to, neonatal deaths are needed to improve interventions aimed at reducing neonatal mortality in low- and middle-income countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Community surveillance to identify all neonatal deaths across four districts in Bangladesh. Verbal autopsy for every fifth case and InterVA-4 used to assign likely cause of death.
  
  
  RESULTS
  6748 neonatal deaths identified, giving a neonatal mortality rate of 24.4 per 1000 live births. Of these, 51.3% occurred in the community and 48.7% at or on the way to a health facility. Almost half (46.1%) occurred within 24 hours of birth with 83.6% of all deaths occurring in the first seven days of life. Birth asphyxia was the leading cause of death (43%), followed by infections (29.3%), and prematurity (22.2%). In 68.3% of cases, care had been provided at a health facility before death occurred. Care-seeking was significantly higher among mothers who were educated (RR 1.18, 95% CI: 1.04-1.35) or who delivered at a health facility (RR 1.48, 95% CI 1.37-1.60) and lower among mothers who had 2-4 previous births (RR 0.89, 95% CI 0.82-0.96), for baby girls (RR 0.87, 95% CI 0.80-0.93), and for low birth weight babies (RR 0.89, 95% CI 0.82-0.96).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most parents of neonates who died had accessed and received care from a qualified healthcare provider. To further reduce neonatal mortality, it is important that the quality of care provided, particularly skilled birth attendance, emergency obstetric care, and neonatal care during the first month of life is improved, such that it is timely, safe, and effective.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Injury Prevention and Research Bangladesh (CIPRB), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Abdul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Halim
authors.affiliation: Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Juan Emmanuel
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Dewez
authors.affiliation: Centre for Injury Prevention and Research Bangladesh (CIPRB), Dhaka, Bangladesh.|Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
authors.forename: Animesh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biswas
authors.affiliation: Centre for Injury Prevention and Research Bangladesh (CIPRB), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Fazlur
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.affiliation: Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Nynke
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: van den Broek
mesh_terms: D001238:Asphyxia Neonatorum / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D001344:Autopsy; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D002423:Cause of Death; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006268:Health Facilities; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007239:Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors