Prevalence and factors associated with neonatal mortality at Ndola teaching hospital, Ndola Zambia.
Date
2025
Authors
Mwanza, Regina
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
Background: The impact of neonatal mortality continues to be a challenge worldwide. Globally, 2.4 million children died in the first month of life in 2020, representing 6,500 neonatal deaths every day. Some of the causes of neonatal deaths include; preterm birth, infections and asphyxia
neonatorum among others. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and factors that were associated with neonatal mortality at Ndola Teaching Hospital in Zambia.
Methodology: A case series retrospective quantitative analytical study design was used. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 169 case notes from January to December, 2021 that were randomly selected from Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Ndola Teaching Hospital. Data
were entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 Chisquare test was used to test associations’ between variables and the level of significance was set at 0.05 and at 95% confidence interval.
Results: The prevalence of neonatal mortality was 8.9%. A significant proportion 98.8% of the neonates admitted to the NICU at Ndola Teaching Hospital originated from antenatal clinics. Concerning neonatal characteristics, 60.2% were male, and the most common length of stay in the
NICU was less than 5 days representing 75.7%. There was an association between being born preterm or very preterm and neonatal mortality (P-value= 0.001). Neonates who were resuscitated at birth and Neonates who were admitted at birth with subnormal temperatures (35 degrees or
below) were more likely die (P-value= 0.0001).
Conclusion: The study revealed that Neonatal mortality is very high among hospitalized neonates at Ndola Teaching Hospital in Zambia. The factors associated with neonatal mortality were multiple. Therefore, there is need to scale up interventions such as; strengthening antenatal care attendance by pregnant women, staff to be familiar with resuscitation of neonates and employing infection prevention measures to mitigate risk factors to neonatal mortality.
Keywords: Neonate, mortality, Prevalence, factors associated with neonatal mortality.
Description
Thesis of Master of Science in Midwifery and Women’s Health.