Africa Is The Most Dangerous Place To Be Born – UNICEF

A report released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) indicates that African countries have the world’s highest incidence of newborn mortalities.

The report posited that, “Eight of the 10 most dangerous places (where babies are) to be born are in sub -Saharan Africa, where pregnant women are much less likely to receive assistance during delivery due to poverty, conflict and weak institutions.

Upto one million babies die the day they are born, while 2.6 million newborns around the world do not survive their first month of life and a large percent of this deaths occur in Africa.

The report also noted that global deaths of newborn babies remain alarmingly high, particularly among the world’s poorest countries.

Infant Mortality In Africa

The New UNICEF report on New born mortality revealed that the African continent is the most dangerous place on earth to be born.

Worldwide, on average 27 out of 1,000 newborn babies die – but in the Central African Republic, for example, the figure is 42.3 in 1,000.

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UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore said the tragedy is that most of the newborn deaths can be prevented.
“The number of deaths of children under five has halved in the past quarter of a century, but clearly we are failing babies in the world’s poorest countries,” Fore said.

According to the report, Pakistan has the worst newborn fatality rate in the world, losing 42.6 infants per 1,000, but the next 8 countries on the list are all in Africa.

Nigeria also was ranked among countries with the highest newborn deaths according to current rankings by UNICEF and even though the situation is improving progress is still very slow.

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With the newborn mortality rate of 34.1 new born mortality rate per 1,000 births, the global estimates rank Nigeria as the 11th highest on newborn deaths.