Neonatal infections in the developing world

Abstract

An estimated one million newborns die from infections in developing countries. Despite the huge burden, high-quality data from community-based epidemiologic studies on etiology, risk factors, and appropriate management are lacking from areas in which newborns experience the greatest mortality. Several planned and ongoing studies in South Asia and Africa promise to address the knowledge gaps. However, simple and low-cost interventions, such as community-based neonatal care packages supporting clean birth practices, early detection of illness through use of clinical algorithms, and home-based antibiotic therapy in areas in which hospitalization is not feasible are already available and have the potential to bring about a drastic reduction in global neonatal mortality due to infections if they are scaled up to national level. Concerted collaborative action by national governments, health professionals, civil society organizations, and international health agencies is required to reduce neonatal mortality due to infections.