This study was conducted to provide empirical evidence of geographical variations of neonatal mortality and its associated social determinants with a view to improving neonatal survival at the subnational level in Nigeria. With a combination of spatial analysis and artificial intelligence techniques, this study analysed data from the 2016/2017 Nigeria Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. The analysis focused on the neonatal period of a weighted national representative population of 30,924 live births delivered five years before the survey commencement. Global Moran’s I index and local indicator of spatial autocorrelation cluster maps were used to determine hot and cold spots. A multilayer perceptron neural network was used to identify the key determinants of neonatal mortality across the states and geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The overall neonatal mortality rate was 38 deaths per 1000 live births. There is evidence of geographic clustering of neonatal mortality across Nigeria (worse in the North-Central and North-West zones), majorly driven by poor maternal access to mass media (which plays a critical role in promoting positive health behaviours), short birth interval, a higher position in a family birth order, and young maternal age at child’s birth. This study highlights the need for a policy shift towards implementing state and region-specific strategies in Nigeria. Gender-responsive, culturally, and regionally appropriate reproductive, maternal, and child health-targeted interventions may address geographical inequity in neonatal survival.

While social determinants of health have been perennially linked to child survival in resource-limited countries, the precise and tested pathways to effect are not clearly understood. The objective of this study was therefore to identify the critical pathways as posited a priori in a model through which social factors (at maternal, household, and community levels) determine neonatal, infant, and under-five mortalities in Nigeria. Using a novel analytic approach (hierarchical path modelling for predicting accelerated failure time) to estimate (in)direct and total effects of social determinants of child survival, we analysed 30,960 live births (weighted data for representativeness), obtained from the 2016/2017 Nigeria Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. There were three outcome variables: time until occurrence of neonatal, infant, and under-five mortalities. The independent variables were layered factors related to child, maternal, household and community. Geographical region, rurality of residence, infrastructural development, maternal education, contraceptive use, marital status, and maternal age at birth were found to operate more indirectly on neonatal, infant, and under-five survival. Child survival is due to direct effects of child’s sex (female), gestational type (singleton), birth spacing (children whose mothers delivered at least two years apart), and maternal age at delivery (20–34 years). According to the path coefficients, the indirect effects of geographical regions are the most influential determinants of child survival, accounting for 30% (neonatal), 37.1% (infant) and 39.9% (under-five) of the total effects. This study offers comprehensive set of factors, and linked pathways, at the maternal, household, and community levels that are associated with child survival in Nigeria. To accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goal targets for child survival and reduce geographical inequities, stakeholders should implement more impactful policies that promote maternal education, contraceptive use and improve living conditions of women (especially in rural areas of northern Nigeria). Future research should focus on identifying the most effective interventions for addressing these social determinants of child survival in Nigeria.

In people and animals, low birth weight (LBW) is recognized as highly predictive of health trajectory from the neonatal period to elderly ages. Regarding the neonatal period, although LBW is recognized as a major risk factor for neonatal mortality, there does not appear to be a clear definition of ‘when a birth weight should be considered low’ in all species. The aim of this work was to use the scientific literature available to map the various thresholds proposed to define LBW in domestic mammals. Using a standardized methodology, a scoping review was conducted through a literature search in three different bibliographic databases. After a two-step screening of 1729 abstracts and full-text publications by two independent reviewers, eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. Selected publications represented six mammalian species (rat, mouse, dog, pig, cow, and rabbit). Birth weight thresholds were identified through six different methods. In addition to the scarcity of scientific literature about the definition of LBW, this scoping review revealed the lack of standardization for the description, evaluation or the pertinence these definitions. Because the health consequences of LBW could be preventable, providing early identification of at-risk neonates, a consensus for the standardized definition of LBW is required.

Neonatal mortality in puppies is a problem frequently encountered by dog breeders. Often, only postmortem examination allows diagnosis and implementation of measures to save the rest of the litter. This article presents the key steps of the postmortem examination, namely, autopsy, histopathology, bacteriology, molecular identification of pathogens, and coproscopy. Sampling, samples' conservation, and interpretation of the obtained results are presented as well as their relative importance for the final diagnosis. Finally, examples of the most frequent syndromes observed under postmortem examination in canine newborns, together with the results from a complementary analysis looking for infectious agents responsible for death, are discussed.

Early initiation of breastfeeding (EIBF) is considered one of the most cost-effective interventions for infant survival and well-being. This study aimed to examine the variations in, and determinants of, early initiation of breastfeeding among women in high and low neonatal mortality rate (NMR) settings in India using data from the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2015–16. At 35%, EIBF was found to be disproportionately low in the high NMR group of states compared with 52% in the low NMR group, with the national average being 44%. The chance of EIBF significantly increased if childbirth was vaginal, delivery took place in a health institution, the mother received breastfeeding advice and the birth was a planned one in both high and low NMR settings. In the high NMR group of states, the probability of initiating breastfeeding immediately after birth improved to a great extent if childbirth was assisted by a trained person and if the mother was exposed to any type of mass media. There is an urgent need to increase the access of mothers to breastfeeding advice during pregnancy and to increase their exposure to mass media, particularly in high NMR states. In addition, achieving universal access to institutional deliveries and deliveries assisted by a skilled birth attendant, especially in high NMR settings, and promoting early breastfeeding, especially in the case of Caesarean deliveries, would further improve the level of EIBF in the country as a whole. These interventions can potentially increase the prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding and help India attain the neonatal mortality rate target of Sustainable Development Goal 3.

This study aimed to assess the changes in neonatal and infant mortality rates in Nigeria over the period 1990 to 2018 using Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) data, and assess their socio-demographic determinants using data from the most recent survey conducted in 2018. The infant mortality rate was 87 per 1000 live births in 1990, and this increased to 100 per 1000 live births in 2003 – an increase of around 15% over 13 years. Neonatal and infant mortality rates started to decline steadily thereafter and continued to do so until 2013. After 2013, neonatal morality rose slightly by the year 2018. Information for 27,465 infants under 1 year of age from the NDHS-2018 was analysed using bivariate and multivariate analysis and the Cox proportional hazard technique. In 2018, infant deaths decreased as wealth increased, and the incidence of infant deaths was greater among those of Islam religion than among those of other religions. A negative association was found between infant deaths and the size of a child at birth. Infant mortality was higher in rural than in urban areas, and was higher among male than female children. Both neonatal and infant death rates varied by region and were found to be highest in the North West region and lowest in the South region. An increasing trend was observed in neonatal mortality in the 5-year period from 2013 to 2018. Policy interventions should be focused on the poor classes, women with a birth interval of less than 2 years and those living in the North West region of the country.

While overall neonatal mortality rates are improving in Ghana, the Ashanti Region has the highest mortality rate in the country. The clinical causes of newborn deaths are well known, yet local beliefs about illness aetiology, cause of death and care-seeking are less well understood. This exploratory qualitative study sought to understand how community members perceive and respond to neonatal illness. Researchers worked with public health nurses, community health nurses and opinion leaders in the Ashanti Region of Ghana to identify women who had lost a baby, either during pregnancy or after delivery. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted about knowledge, attitudes and beliefs regarding neonatal mortality. The transcripts were coded and analysed using NVivo 10.0. A total of 100 participants were interviewed: 24% reported a previous stillbirth; 37% reported a previous miscarriage; and 45% reported losing a baby who was born alive. Nine per cent experienced more than one type of loss. The local illness of asram – an illness with supernatural causes – was cited as a leading cause of death of newborns. Every participant reported hearing of, knowing someone, or having a child who had become ill with asram. While women gave varying information on symptoms, method of contraction and treatment, all participants agreed that asram was common and often fatal. Four overarching themes emerged: 1) asram is not a hospital sickness; 2) there is both a fear of traditional healers as a source of asram, as well as a reliance upon them to cure asram; 3) there are rural/urban differences in perceptions of asram; and 4) asram may serve as a mechanism of social control for pregnant women and new mothers. Local beliefs and practices must be better understood and incorporated into health education campaigns if neonatal mortality is to be reduced in Ghana.

Evidence on the impact of the quality of prenatal care on childhood mortality is limited in developing countries, including India. Therefore, using nationally representative data from the latest round of the National Family Health Survey (2015–16), this study examined the impact of the quality of prenatal care on neonatal and infant mortality in India using a multivariable binary logistic regression model. The effect of the essential components of prenatal care services on neonatal and infant mortality were also investigated. The results indicate that improvement in the quality of prenatal care is associated with a decrease in neonatal (OR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.91–0.97) and infant (OR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.92–0.96) mortality in India. Tetanus toxoid vaccination, consumption of iron–folic acid tablets during pregnancy and having been weighed during pregnancy were statistically associated with a lower risk of neonatal and infant mortality. Educating women on pregnancy complications was also associated with a lower risk of neonatal mortality. No effect of blood pressure examination, blood test and examination of the abdomen during pregnancy were found on either of the two indicators of childhood mortality. Although the coverage of prenatal care has increased dramatically in India, the quality of prenatal care is still an area of concern. There is therefore a need to ensure high-quality prenatal care in India.

Previous research has described the evil eye as a source of illness for pregnant women and their newborns. This study sought to explore the perceptions of the evil eye among mothers whose newborns had experienced a life-threatening complication across three regions of Ghana. As part of a larger, quantitative study, trained research assistants identified pregnant and newly delivered women (and their newborns) who had survived a life-threatening complication at three tertiary care hospitals in southern Ghana to participate in open-ended, qualitative interviews about their experiences in March–August 2015. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim into English and analysis using the constant comparative method of theme generation. A total of 37 mothers were interviewed, 20 about neonatal illnesses and 17 about maternal illnesses. Six of the 20 mothers interviewed about their newborn’s illnesses spoke at length about the evil eye being a potential cause of newborn illness. The evil eye was described in a variety of terms, but commonalities included a person looking at a pregnant woman, her newborn baby, the baby’s clothes and even the mother’s food, causing harm, even unintentionally. Prevention required mothers covering themselves while pregnant and keeping the baby away from others until it was old enough to ward off the evil eye. Treatment required traditional medicine, yet some indicated that allopathic medicine could help. The evil eye appears to serve a social control mechanism, encouraging pregnant women to dress modestly, stay indoors as much as possible and behave appropriately. The evil eye is a pervasive, universally understood phenomenon across three regions of Ghana, even amongst a hospitalized population receiving allopathic health care for life-threatening complications of childbirth. Understanding the role of the evil eye in newborn illness attribution is important for clinicians, researchers and programmatic staff to effectively address barriers to care seeking.

Neonatal mortality in small ruminant livestock has remained stubbornly unchanging over the past 40 years, and represents a significant loss of farm income, contributes to wastage and affects animal welfare. Scientific knowledge about the biology of neonatal adaptation after birth has been accumulating but does not appear to have had an impact in improving survival. In this paper, we ask what might be the reasons for the lack of impact of the scientific studies of lamb and kid mortality, and suggest strategies to move forward. Biologically, it is clear that achieving a good intake of colostrum, as soon as possible after birth, is crucial for neonatal survival. This provides fuel for thermoregulation, passive immunological protection and is involved in the development of attachment between the ewe and lamb. The behaviour of the lamb in finding the udder and sucking rapidly after birth is a key component in ensuring sufficient colostrum is ingested. In experimental studies, the main risk factors for lamb mortality are low birthweight, particularly owing to poor maternal nutrition during gestation, birth difficulty, litter size and genetics, which can all be partly attributed to their effect on the speed with which the lamb reaches the udder and sucks. Similarly, on commercial farms, low birthweight and issues with sucking were identified as important contributors to mortality. In epidemiological studies, management factors such as providing assistance with difficult births, were found to be more important than risk factors associated with housing. Social science studies suggest that farmers generally have a positive attitude to improving neonatal mortality but may differ in beliefs about how this can be achieved, with some farmers believing they had no control over early lamb mortality. Facilitative approaches, where farmers and advisors work together to develop neonatal survival strategies, have been shown to be effective in achieving management goals, such as optimising ewe nutrition, that lead to reductions in lamb mortality. We conclude that scientific research is providing useful information on the biology underpinning neonatal survival, such as optimal birthweights, lamb vigour and understanding the importance of sufficient colostrum intake, but the transfer of that knowledge would benefit from an improved understanding of the psychology of management change on farm. Developing tailored solutions, on the basis of adequate farm records, that make use of the now substantial body of scientific literature on neonatal mortality will help to achieve lower neonatal mortality.

After the passing of the 1902 Midwives Act, a growing proportion of women were delivered by trained and supervised midwives. Standards of midwifery should therefore have improved over the first three decades of the twentieth century, yet nationally this was not reflected in the main outcome measures (stillbirths, early neonatal mortality and maternal death). This paper shows that there was a difference in the risks associated with delivery by the different attendants, with qualified midwives having the best outcome, then bona-fide (untrained) midwives and lastly doctors, even when account is taken of the fact that doctors were called in cases of medical need and may have been booked where a problematic delivery was expected. The paper argues that the lack of improvement in outcome measures could be consistent with improving standards of care among both trained and bona-fide midwives, because increased attention to the rules stipulating when midwives called for medical help meant that a doctor was called into an increasing number of deliveries (including less complicated ones), raising the chance of unnecessary and dangerous interventions.

This study was conducted for the purpose of assessing, in the light of results of other research carried out in the present researchers' clinic and in Turkey, the status of twin pregnancies in Turkey, the incidence of twin births, perinatal and mortality rates associated with twin pregnancies, and the problems experienced in Turkey in cases of multiple and twin pregnancies. Materials and Methodology: The outcomes of twin births that occurred at the researchers' clinic during the period 2001–2009 were studied retrospectively. Seventeen studies conducted in Turkey on multiple and twin pregnancies during the years 1991–2010 were included in the study. Findings: It was observed that the mean multiple pregnancy rate in Turkey is 1.9% and the mean twin birth rate is 1.7%. It was also observed that a large majority (80–97.3%) of multiple pregnancies in Turkey are twin pregnancies. It was noted from Turkish literature that the mean gestational age of twins at birth varies between 33–36.2 weeks and that mean birthweights are 2065–2327 grams for the first-born twin and 1887–2262 grams for the second-born. These findings were observed to be lower than what is indicated in the literature. Perinatal and neonatal mortality, at 58–156/1000 and 40–98/1000 respectively, were seen to be higher than in the literature. Conclusion: It can be seen that preterm birth rates for twin pregnancies in Turkey are higher than what is indicated in the literature and that prenatal and neonatal mortality rates are also similarly higher.

British hill sheep are required to give birth to and rear their lambs under harsh extensive conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate whether genetic selection for increased (LEAN) or decreased (FAT) carcass lean content in the Scottish Blackface breed over 7 years had affected the ability of ewes to rear lambs by altering the expression of maternal and neonatal lamb behaviours. The behaviour of 61 ewes (32 LEAN and 29 FAT) and their 119 lambs were recorded at parturition and over the first 8 weeks of life. Overall there were very few effects of selection on the behaviour of the ewes. LEAN ewes were significantly faster than FAT ewes to start grooming their lambs after birth and FAT ewes tended to withdraw more frequently from their lambs than LEAN ewes. There was, however, a highly significant effect of selection line on lamb behaviour. LEAN lambs were significantly quicker than FAT lambs to perform all righting movements (median latency to stand (mins): LEAN = 11·7, FAT = 23·4, P < 0·01), were more likely both to suck (percentage that sucked: LEAN = 81·0%, FAT = 57·1%, P < 0·05), and to play within the first 2 h of birth. The higher rate of sucking in LEAN lambs persisted over the first 3 days after birth (percent observations where lambs were sucking: LEAN = 7·8 (s.e. 0·8), FAT = 5·1 (s.e. 0·6), P < 0·05), when LEAN lambs were also significantly closer to their mothers than FAT lambs. Thereafter, there were no significant effects of ewe or lamb line on behaviours recorded up to 8 weeks after birth. Overall lamb mortality to 8 weeks was 19·3% and was not significantly affected by lamb line. However, lambs that were slow to perform early behaviours had a reduced survival to 8 weeks of age. These data suggest that, although ewe maternal behaviour has not been significantly affected by selection for lean growth, the activity of the neonatal lamb has been affected. Lamb activity was related to lamb survival, even in our indoor lambing conditions. It is likely that the speed with which newborn lambs stand and suck will be even more important for survival under extensive conditions.

This study describes the evolution in fetal and neonatal mortality rates among twin pairs born in 22 hospitals located in the eastern regions of the province of Quebec in 1976-1978 (n = 776 pairs) and 1982-1985 (n = 712 pairs). It also assesses the contribution of maternal factors, obstetrical care and characteristics of twins in the variation of the risk of death over time. The fetal mortality rate did not improve from 1976-1978 (22.6 per 1000) to 1982-1985 (28.1 per 1000). However, the neonatal mortality rate declined from 44.7 to 34.7 per 1000 liveborn first twins and from 56.8 to 36.1 per 1000 liveborn second twins. For first twins as for second twins, birthweight-specific neonatal mortality rates decreased within birth weight categories under 2500 g. In the second period, 96.9% of twin pregnancies were detected before confinement compared to 59.6% in the earlier period. The proportion of twins delivered by obstetricians, the percentage of twin births occurring in ultraspecialized perinatal units and the frequency of caesarean sections increased markedly. The proportion of preterm births increased over time (34.5% vs 43.1%) whereas the percentage of low birthweight twins decreased but not significantly (54.3% 51.6%). In this study, changes in maternal age, parity, educational level, sex of pairs, qualification of the physician, and level of care available at the hospital of birth, did not account for the decrease in neonatal mortality rates among twins. The increase in the frequency of caesarean sections seemed to explain only a small proportion of the decrease in the neonatal mortality rate among second twins. In the second as well as in the first period, the neonatal mortality rate for twins was six times higher than that for singletons.

Data of 601 families with triplets and higher multiples have been collected. Since about nine years the number of higher-order births has been increasing enormously. The average pregnancy duration and the average birthweight of these mostly premature children have been declining from year to year. Despite the progress in neonatology, the death rate and the rate of handicapped children is very high. To prevent such disastrous outcomes, treatments for infertility should be performed only by physicians in centers with strong controls. Selective abortions are no regular solution to the problem of higher multiple gestation.