Measurement of mortality from neonatal tetanus in Burma

Abstract

Surveys to determine mortality from neonatal tetanus were conducted in March and April 1985 in accessible areas of Burma, where pregnant women had been immunized with tetanus toxoid and, for comparison, also in areas where such immunization had not been given. Neonatal mortality rates were three times greater in areas where tetanus toxoid immunization had only recently or had not yet been introduced by the national expanded programme on immunization. Analysis of the data indicates that the impact on reduction of neonatal mortality from tetanus of three interventions (immunization of pregnant women with tetanus toxoid; delivery in hospital; or birth at home attended by a trained health worker) was greatest for immunization.