Quality and outcomes of maternal and perinatal care for 76,563 pregnancies reported in a nationwide network of Nigerian referral-level hospitals.

Background: The WHO in collaboration with the Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health, established a nationwide electronic data platform across referral-level hospitals. We report the burden of maternal, foetal and neonatal complications and quality and outcomes of care during the first year. Methods: Data were analysed from 76,563 women who were admitted for delivery or on account of complications within 42 days of delivery or termination of pregnancy from September 2019 to August 2020 across the 54 hospitals included in the Maternal and Perinatal Database for Quality, Equity and Dignity programme. Findings: Participating hospitals reported 69,055 live births, 4,498 stillbirths and 1,090 early neonatal deaths. 44,614 women (58·3%) had at least one pregnancy complication, out of which 6,618 women (8·6%) met our criteria for potentially life-threatening complications, and 940 women (1·2%) died. Leading causes of maternal death were eclampsia (n = 187,20·6%), postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) (n = 103,11·4%), and sepsis (n = 99,10·8%). Antepartum hypoxia (n = 1455,31·1%) and acute intrapartum events (n = 913,19·6%) were the leading causes of perinatal death. Predictors of maternal and perinatal death were similar: low maternal education, lack of antenatal care, referral from other facility, previous caesarean section, latent-phase labour admission, operative vaginal birth, non-use of a labour monitoring tool, no labour companion, and non-use of uterotonic for PPH prevention. Interpretation: This nationwide programme for routine data aggregation shows that maternal and perinatal mortality reduction strategies in Nigeria require a multisectoral approach. Several lives could be saved in the short term by addressing key predictors of death, including gaps in the coverage of internationally recommended interventions such as companionship in labour and use of labour monitoring tool. Funding: This work was funded by MSD for Mothers; and UNDP/UNFPA/ UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP), a co-sponsored programme executed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Facility-Based Newborn Deaths at a Referral Tertiary Hospital in North-Central Nigeria during the Sustainable Development Goal Era: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Nigeria has the largest number of global under-five deaths and almost half of these occur in the newborn period in an almost 50:50 ratio across hospital facilities and communities. We examine and describe risk factors for newborn mortality at a busy neonatal unit of a referral tertiary hospital in North-central Nigeria. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of all newborn admissions to the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital between September 2018 and March 2020. We determined the newborn mortality rate (NMR) and case fatality rates (CFRs) for individual diagnostic categories and determined risk predictors for mortality using cox-proportional hazard models. RESULTS: Of 1171 admitted newborn infants, 175 (14.9%) died with about half of these occurring within 24 h of admission. Extremely low birth weight infants and those with congenital anomalies had the highest CFRs. Identified risk factors for mortality were age at admission [adjusted hazard ratio (AHR): 0.996, 95% CI: 0.993-0.999], admitting weight (AHR: 0.9995, 95% CI: 0.9993-0.9997) and home delivery (AHR: 1.65, 95% CI: 1.11-to 2.46). CONCLUSIONS: Facility-based newborn mortality is high in North-central Nigeria. Majority of these deaths occur within the first 24 h of admission, signifying challenges in acute critical newborn care. To improve the current situation and urgently accelerate progress to meet the sustainable development goal NMR targets, there is an urgent need to develop human and material resources for acute critical newborn care while encouraging facility-based delivery and decentralizing existing newborn care. Lay summaryNigeria now has the greatest number of deaths in children below the age of five globally. Almost half of these occurred in the newborn period and these deaths occur within hospital facilities and also in communities in an almost 50:50 ratio. As such, the country might not attain global newborn mortality rates that were set as targets for the sustainable development goals (SDGs). In this article, we examine and describe the risk factors for newborn deaths occurring at a typical newborn unit in North-central Nigeria. During the period under review, we found that about 175 (14.9%) died and about half of these deaths occurred within 24 h of admission. Extremely small babies and those who were born with physical defects had the highest death rates. Older babies and those who weighed more at admission had decreased risks of dying while being delivered at home increased the risk of death. Hospital newborn deaths remain high in North-central Nigeria and the pattern of early admission deaths signifies challenges in stabilizing critically ill newborn infants. There is an urgent need to develop human and material resources for acute critical newborn care while encouraging institutional delivery and decentralizing of existing newborn care.

A Prospective Cohort Study of the Clinical Predictors of Bacteremia in Under-Five Children With Acute Undifferentiated Fever Attending a Secondary Health Facility in Northwestern Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Children with acute febrile illness with no localizing signs often receive antibiotics empirically in most resource-poor settings. However, little is known about the burden of bacteremia in this category of patients, and an appraisal is thus warranted. This will guide clinical practice and promote rational antibiotics use. METHODS: We prospectively followed up 140 under-five children who presented with acute undifferentiated fever at the emergency/outpatient pediatric unit of a secondary healthcare facility. Baseline clinical and laboratory information was obtained and documented in a structured questionnaire. We compared baseline characteristics between participants with bacteremia and those without bacteremia. We further fitted a multivariable logistic regression model to identify factors predictive of bacteremia among the cohort. RESULT: The prevalence of bacteremia was 17.1%, and Salmonella Typhi was the most frequently (40.9%) isolated pathogen. The majority (78.6%) of the study participants were managed as outpatients. The participants who required admission were four times more likely to have bacteremia when compared to those managed as outpatients (AOR 4.08, 95% CI 1.19 to 14.00). There is a four times likelihood of bacteremia (AOR 4.75, 95% CI 1.48 to 15.29) with a fever duration of beyond 7 days. Similarly, participants who were admitted with lethargy were six times more likely to have bacteremia (AOR 6.20, 95% CI 1.15 to 33.44). Other significant predictors were tachypnea and lymphopenia. CONCLUSION: Among under-five children with acute undifferentiated fever, longer duration of fever, lethargy, inpatient care, tachypnea, and lymphopenia were the significant predictors of bacteremia.

Fatal case of newborn Lassa fever virus infection mimicking late onset neonatal sepsis: a case report from northern Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Lassa fever is a zoonotic viral infection endemic to the West Africa countries. It is highly fatal during pregnancy and as such reports of neonatal onset Lassa fever infections are rare in scientific literature. We report a fatal case of Lassa fever in a 26-day-old neonate mimicking the diagnosis of late-onset neonatal sepsis. CASE PRESENTATION: The patient is a 26-day-old neonate who was admitted with a day history of fever, poor feeding, pre-auricular lymphadenopathy and sudden parental death. He was initially evaluated for late onset neonatal sepsis. He later developed abnormal bleeding and multiple convulsions while on admission, prompting the need to evaluate for Lassa fever using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). He died 31 h into admission and RT-PCR result was positive for Lassa fever. CONCLUSIONS: Neonatal Lassa fever infection is highly fatal and can mimic neonatal sepsis. High index of suspicion is needed particularly for atypical presentations of neonatal sepsis in Lassa fever endemic areas.

Postnatal Outcomes and Risk Factors for In-Hospital Mortality among Asphyxiated Newborns in a Low-Resource Hospital Setting: Experience from North-Central Nigeria.

Background: Birth asphyxia accounts for a third of global newborn deaths and 95 percent of these occur in low-resource settings. A key to reducing asphyxia-related deaths in these settings is improving care of these newborns and this requires an understanding of factors associated with adverse outcomes. Objectives: In this study, we report outcomes and risk factors for mortality among newborn infants with birth asphyxia admitted to a typical low-resource hospital setting. Methods: We prospectively followed up 191 asphyxiated newborn infants admitted to a referral tertiary hospital in North-central Nigeria. At baseline, care-givers completed a structured questionnaire. Using univariable analysis, we compared baseline characteristics between participants who died and those who survived till discharge. We also fitted a multivariable logistic regression model to identify risk factors for mortality among the cohort. Results: Majority (60.7%) of the study participants presented to the hospital within the first six hours of life. Despite this, mortality among the cohort was 14.7% with a third dying within the first 24 hours of admission. The presence of respiratory distress at admission increased the risk for mortality (AOR = 3.73, 95% CI 1.22 to 11.35) while higher participant weight at admission decreased the risk (AOR = 0.11, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.40). Intrapartum factors such as duration of labour and maternal age, although significant on univariable analysis, were not significant on multivariable analysis. Conclusions: Hospital mortality among newborns with birth asphyxia is high in North-central Nigeria and majority of deaths occur during acute care. Respiratory distress at presentation and admission weights were identified as key risk factors for asphyxia mortality. Intrapartum factors on the other hand might have indirect effects on mortality through an increased risk for neonatal complications.

Ackee Fruit Poisoning in Eight Siblings: Implications for Public Health Awareness.

Ackee apple fruit is a native fruit to Jamaica and some parts of west Africa. Its toxicity known as "Jamaican vomiting sickness" dates back to the nineteenth century. However, there is a dearth of reported published data on toxicity from Nigeria where it is popularly known in the southwest as "ishin." We report a case series of eight previously well Nigerian siblings who presented at various intervals after ingestion of roasted seeds and aril of the ackee fruit.