Experts decry increasing rate of neonatal mortality in Nigeria

Medical experts describe the high rate of neonatal mortality in Nigeria as worrisome, calling for urgent intervention to stem the tide. A neonate professor, Mr H.O Amadi, and Dr Mustapha Jibril, the commissioner for health in Niger State , among other experts, were unanimous that that governments must act to stop mothers from preventable deaths.  […]

Medical experts describe the high rate of neonatal mortality in Nigeria as worrisome, calling for urgent intervention to stem the tide.
A neonate professor, Mr H.O Amadi, and Dr Mustapha Jibril, the commissioner for health in Niger State , among other experts, were unanimous that that governments must act to stop mothers from preventable deaths. 
“Maternal mortality rate is high and this reflects on neonatal survival as there is a high risk of a child dying if the mother does not survive,” Jibril said.
 Speaking while on inspection of the Neonatal Unit of the General Hospital, Minna, currently under construction, the experts called for establishment of such unit in public hospitals across the country with facilities for automated ventilation or total perenteral nutrition.  They said that monitoring neonatal care was hampered by lack of equipment such as infant monitors, pulse oximeters, arterial blood gas monitoring, epileptic power supply and unstable supply of oxygen.