Angela Onwuzoo
A renowned paediatrician and Chief Executive Officer of the Outreach Hospital Group, Dr Efunbo Dosekun, has identified early referral, coordinated emergency care, and sustained community awareness as critical interventions needed to reduce Nigeria’s high infant mortality rate.
Speaking at a recent media chat in Lagos, Dosekun said preventable conditions such as sepsis, jaundice, birth asphyxia, and complications of prematurity continue to claim thousands of newborn lives annually, largely due to delays in accessing appropriate care.
With over 40 years of cumulative experience in the United Kingdom and Nigerian health sectors, the senior paediatrician stressed that prompt hospital presentation when a baby falls ill could mean the difference between life and death — or lifelong disability.
“When babies are brought to the hospital early, they are not only rescued from preventable deaths but also saved from brain damage and permanent injuries,” she said. “Sepsis and jaundice kill many of our newborns. There are many conditions — infection, jaundice, trauma, anaemia — that can take a baby’s life. But with immediate referrals and timely interventions, many of these babies can be saved.”
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, recently disclosed that no fewer than 280,000 Nigerian newborns die annually within their first month of life.
Pate made the disclosure in Abuja while commemorating the 2025 World Pneumonia and Prematurity Days, noting that Nigeria also records about 162,000 childhood pneumonia-related deaths each year.
Available data further indicate that Nigeria has the second-highest under-five mortality rate globally, with 107 deaths per 1,000 live births, behind only the Niger Republic, which records 117 per 1,000 live births.
Dosekun maintained that Nigeria must strengthen prenatal care, expand neonatal units, improve early referrals, and close the awareness gap at the community level to significantly reduce infant deaths.
She advised that babies should ideally be delivered in hospitals equipped with functional neonatal units and adequate neonatal beds.
“Babies should be born in hospitals with neonatal units. There should be dedicated child units in our hospitals,” she said. “We need enough neonatal beds if we are serious about reducing brain injuries and preventable deaths among newborns.”
According to her, simple yet critical practices, such as keeping newborns warm immediately after birth, closely monitoring them, and ensuring proper follow-up care, can significantly improve survival rates, particularly for preterm babies.
“Nigerian paediatricians are working hard to educate mothers on how to care for preterm babies, but awareness remains low,” she noted.
She emphasised the need to integrate newborn care with antenatal and delivery services, calling for closer collaboration between paediatricians and gynaecologists, especially at the primary healthcare level.
“If we work harder to improve our antenatal care and ensure proper monitoring of pregnancies, we will detect risks early,” she said. “Care of our babies has to be integrated with delivery and antenatal services. Paediatricians and gynaecologists must work together.”
Dosekun acknowledged ongoing Federal Government efforts to address newborn health challenges, including the expansion of Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care under the CEmONC initiative.
“For the past two years, the programme has covered emergency obstetric services, including caesarean sections, to prevent delays caused by lack of funds. About three months ago, it was extended to neonatal care,” she said.
She revealed that the government has also launched a pilot programme involving selected private hospitals across different geopolitical zones to complement public facilities and strengthen emergency newborn care.
According to her, the Outreach Hospital Group has been accredited to provide Level II neonatal care under the pilot scheme.
“In Lagos, vulnerable families can now access emergency newborn care at our Lekki and Festac hospitals, alongside designated federal medical centres,” she added.
She described the pilot as a learning process aimed at identifying gaps in referral systems, workforce capacity, care, and public awareness, which she was crucial to the expansion of the programme.
Beyond infrastructure and funding, Dosekun underscored the urgent need for a streamlined referral system linking communities, primary healthcare centres, and higher-level hospitals, supported by functional ambulance services.
“We need to sit down and develop simple solutions that will improve referral flow and ensure timely care,” she said. “If we concentrate on community awareness, primary healthcare strengthening, referral systems, and ambulance services, in four years we will see significant change.”
She cautioned against home management of sick newborns, urging parents and caregivers to seek professional medical care promptly.
For the seasoned paediatrician, whose decades-long career has been driven by a passion for saving infants and neonates, the message is unequivocal: a large proportion of newborn deaths in Nigeria are preventable.
“With early detection, proper antenatal care, hospital deliveries, quick referrals, and community awareness, we can drastically reduce infant deaths,” she said. “Our babies deserve that chance.”
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