Tag: preventable deaths

Last week, we examined the root causes of why our children die in their infancy. We also took a detailed look at what kills these children. Similarly, we referred to the fact that these deaths  in childhood are preventable. In this article, we will discuss the measures that parents can take to reduce the chances of children dying early on in their lives.

• The starting point is to understand who you are. Know your limit and determine how many children you can look after considering your own circumstances. It is no use having many children without being able to look after them all. This process of determining your capability is called family planning. Visit your healthcare provider to further discuss your family needs. No one can force you into family planning but at the same time, there is no point in having children who may not be able to be useful to themselves and the society.
• Before the parents, especially the mother, should get pregnant, she should ensure good nourishment for herself. The intending mother should also consider taking supporting vitamins in preparation for pregnancy.
• Once you have any of these children or a child for that matter, ensure, there is enough nutritious food for each child and the parents to share. A newborn child requires breast milk preferably from the mother. Short of this, an artificial milk may be used.
• Throughout the pregnancy, pregnant women should register with their preferred healthcare provider for antenatal care. This is a very important step to prevent deaths of mother or child as relating to pregnancy.
• The expectant mother should get herself vaccinated against key infections such as tetanus to protect both mother and child.
• When the child is born, the mother and child should be monitored regularly by doctors and nurses: they, the clinicians will attend to any healthcare issue that may arise.
• Before being pregnant, during pregnancy and after, personal hygiene of the parents, the children of the family and the environment should be clean and tidy.
• Any illness should be brought to the attention of the healthcare providers as soon as possible. Parents should not underrate the importance of regular health checks even where there is no identifiable illness.

These are few but not all the steps that may be taken to prevent the death of the newborn and other growing children in our family.

Children are adults in the making. There are some protections that children who are also defendless should have. Parents should seriously consider removing hazards at home and in any place where young people may play and roam. Electrical sockets should be plucked so that children are not able to insert metals into electrical outlets. Children should not go near hot water, hot iron or into the kitchen on their own without the guidance and security of adults. Accidents may happen that may kill or harm the child if not well protected. Children are curious beings and they dream wild too. Young people are not often conscious of risks. Thus, they may want to jump out of a window in their innocent ways. Parents and guardians should consider window guards to prevent accidents. In a similar manner, car seats for children are good steps that may prevent injuries during road traffic accidents. Still on roads, let the children use helmets even for bicycle and motorcycle rides.

Abuse of children is not rare in our country. Abuse includes economic, physical, mental and sexual abuses. Abuse diminish the value of children. Abuse could also stunt the growth of children. Parents will need to be very vigilant against all the forms of abuses that I have mentioned above.

In sum, the well-being or death of children depends on the environment of their development. The wellbeing of the mother or child starts even before the birth of the child as we have seen and continues into the child’s adulthood. Prevention is better than cure. Vaccination against diseases, early detection and treatment of illness, prevention against accidents and injuries along with sound nutrition with protection against child abuses will ensure our children live safely and grow in a healthy manner.

Last week, we examined the root causes of why our children die in their infancy. We also took a detailed look at what kills these children. Similarly, we referred to the fact that these deaths  in childhood are preventable. In this article, we will discuss the measures that parents can take to reduce the chances of children dying early on in their lives.

• The starting point is to understand who you are. Know your limit and determine how many children you can look after considering your own circumstances. It is no use having many children without being able to look after them all. This process of determining your capability is called family planning. Visit your healthcare provider to further discuss your family needs. No one can force you into family planning but at the same time, there is no point in having children who may not be able to be useful to themselves and the society.
• Before the parents, especially the mother, should get pregnant, she should ensure good nourishment for herself. The intending mother should also consider taking supporting vitamins in preparation for pregnancy.
• Once you have any of these children or a child for that matter, ensure, there is enough nutritious food for each child and the parents to share. A newborn child requires breast milk preferably from the mother. Short of this, an artificial milk may be used.
• Throughout the pregnancy, pregnant women should register with their preferred healthcare provider for antenatal care. This is a very important step to prevent deaths of mother or child as relating to pregnancy.
• The expectant mother should get herself vaccinated against key infections such as tetanus to protect both mother and child.
• When the child is born, the mother and child should be monitored regularly by doctors and nurses: they, the clinicians will attend to any healthcare issue that may arise.
• Before being pregnant, during pregnancy and after, personal hygiene of the parents, the children of the family and the environment should be clean and tidy.
• Any illness should be brought to the attention of the healthcare providers as soon as possible. Parents should not underrate the importance of regular health checks even where there is no identifiable illness.

These are few but not all the steps that may be taken to prevent the death of the newborn and other growing children in our family.

Children are adults in the making. There are some protections that children who are also defendless should have. Parents should seriously consider removing hazards at home and in any place where young people may play and roam. Electrical sockets should be plucked so that children are not able to insert metals into electrical outlets. Children should not go near hot water, hot iron or into the kitchen on their own without the guidance and security of adults. Accidents may happen that may kill or harm the child if not well protected. Children are curious beings and they dream wild too. Young people are not often conscious of risks. Thus, they may want to jump out of a window in their innocent ways. Parents and guardians should consider window guards to prevent accidents. In a similar manner, car seats for children are good steps that may prevent injuries during road traffic accidents. Still on roads, let the children use helmets even for bicycle and motorcycle rides.

Abuse of children is not rare in our country. Abuse includes economic, physical, mental and sexual abuses. Abuse diminish the value of children. Abuse could also stunt the growth of children. Parents will need to be very vigilant against all the forms of abuses that I have mentioned above.

In sum, the well-being or death of children depends on the environment of their development. The wellbeing of the mother or child starts even before the birth of the child as we have seen and continues into the child’s adulthood. Prevention is better than cure. Vaccination against diseases, early detection and treatment of illness, prevention against accidents and injuries along with sound nutrition with protection against child abuses will ensure our children live safely and grow in a healthy manner.

In the last couple of weeks, we discussed, the unfortunate but  largely  preventable  pregnancy –related deaths of women.  We also  saw in those  articles, the unforgivable numbers of such deaths in our country. We discussed also, the preventive measures that could be applied to thwart the deaths of women at childbirth.

In today’s article, we will take a closer look at what kills our infants and children under five years old. At the conclusion of these discussions on children, we will consider preventive recommendations too.

Let us begin the difficult task of presenting to you, the major killers of our children who are under five years old.

About 5.3 million children are born yearly in Nigeria: that is about 11,000 every day. One million of these children will die before the age of five years. Thus, Nigeria is a dangerous place to be born and or to be a child. According to Dr. Taiwo Ajayi, paediatrician, who had studied this subject, Nigeria’s newborn death rate (neonatal mortality) – 528 per day – is one of the highest in the world. More than a quarter of the estimated 1 million children who die under the age of five years annually in Nigeria die during the first 28 days of life (neonatal period). Sadly, about nine out of 10 of newborn deaths are preventable. However and alas, we fail our children and allow them to die prematurely.

Remember though, that in every 10 minutes, one woman dies because of pregnancy or childbirth in Nigeria, giving about 53,000 per year.  This means about 814 women die in every 100,000 live births as at 2015 when the latest figure was available.

As a matter of fact, the North East Zone of Nigeria, has the highest maternal mortality rate of 549/100,000 live births, compared to 165/100,000 live births in the South West Zone —an almost 10-fold difference. The highest death rate of infants within the first 28 days (neonatal mortality) of life is in the North East and North West regions of the country. The highest death rate of under five children (Under 5 Mortality Rate) is in the North East and North West regions of the country. Thus, specifically, for every 1000 children under five years old, the following number of children will die per year per 1000 children: North West zone 269 children; North East zone 260 children; South West zone 176 children; South East zone 103 children. This is a very pathetic picture indeed.

Now, the question is: what kills our children?

Amongst the commonest causes why our children die in the first four weeks of their lives are when such a child is born underweight. Being born underweight may be due to several diseases such as infection, poor nutrition of the baby and anaemia of the mother. A child born before due date: and who falls under the classification of prematurity may die soon after birth. When the labour is prolonged and difficult, such a child may die soon too. This is even more likely if the newborn sustains injury at birth. Infection is bad for everyone. It is bad for the newborn too. A child who came to this world already deformed is at risk of death at early stage of life (Congenital anomalies). If the child suffers from breathing problems, diarrrhoea or the cord is impaired, the child may die soon after birth

For children who are under one year old but have escaped death in the first four weeks of life, such children may give up the ghost from second month to the 12th month because of some common but preventable illnesses. Diarrheal disease is among the top causes of such death. This is followed by conditions that restrict the breathing of the child. Infections of any source including malaria may kill the child. Poor nutrition (malnutrition) and congenital anomalies are other causes. Young children are naïve and are prone to accidents such as falls, use of dangerous instruments, swallowing of foreign objects and chocking and accidental poisoning. All of these stands in the way of survival of our children and most are preventable.

We will look at the preventive measures next week.