Save the Children says that over a million babies die each year on their birthday. These are preventable deaths. However, some Asian countries are bright spots in this sad reality. In its newest report, Ending Newborn Deaths, Bangladesh figures prominently. Its the regions greatest success at making successful strides in reining in this statistic.
Ishtiaq Mannan told s Frances Alonzo that the deaths happen because of premature birth and complications during birth.
MANNAN: These newborn deaths happen on the first day of life, actually, [they] can be attributed to intra-partum complications, which is mostly known as birth asphyxia, then prematurity is one of the leading causes of the first day deaths and also infection. So these are the three major causes that contribute to the first day deaths.
ALONZO: In this report, Bangladesh figures prominently. Tell me why.
MANNAN: There are two sides of Bangladesh being featured in this report as one of the focus countries. Bangladesh has made tremendous progress over the last several decades in terms of reducing child mortality. Now, when I say child mortality, that means we consider under five mortality, children under five. So, over the last two decades child mortality has come down significantly to a level of 41 per 1,000 live births. And Bangladesh is one of the very rare countries which are on track for achieving Millennium Development Goal 4 [which is to reduce child mortality.]
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