Question

ESSENTIALS & PRACTICE IN GLOBAL HEALTH NURSING

State the top five leading causes of child death globally.

Discuss how the causes of death differ for neonates, infants, and children younger than 5 years old.

Identify the most cost-effective interventions for saving the lives of newborns.

Describe the different levels of child illness and death in different parts of the same country.

Answer 1

Globally, infectious diseases, including pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, Neonatal sepsis remain a leading cause of under-five deaths, along with preterm birth and intrapartum-related complications. Neonates are more sensititve to diseases as their immune power is low when compared to others.So automatically the death rate will high for neonates.Vaccines rank among the most cost-effective health interventions because of their life-saving potential. The original EPI-6 vaccines (against tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, and polio) are very cost-effective although no studies on the basic six antigens that typically comprise a national EPI were identified by the systematic search.Every year nearly 41% of all under-five child deaths are among newborn infants, babies in their first 28 days of life or the neonatal period.Three quarters of all newborn deaths occur in the first week of life.In developing countries nearly half of all mothers and newborns do not receive skilled care during and immediately after birth.Up to two thirds of newborn deaths can be prevented if known, effective health measures are provided at birth and during the first week of life.Of the 8.2 million under-five child deaths per year, about 3.3 million occur during the neonatal period —in the first four weeks of life.The majority - almost 3 million of these - die within one week and almost 2 million on their first day of life.An additional 3.3 million are stillborn.A child’s risk of death in the first four weeks of life is nearly 15 times greater than any other time before one year .Virtually all (99%) newborn deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Almost 3 million of all the babies who die each year can be saved with low-tech, low-cost care.