250,000 infants die annually in Nigeria due to lack of health workers

Up to 250, 000 infants die every year in Nigeria due to lack of unskilled health workers and antenatal care, a health expert has said.

Elizabeth Disu, a consultant Paediatrician with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital told reporters in Lagos on Friday that new born deaths and child mortality was becoming rampant as Nigeria recorded the highest neonatal deaths in Africa.

The consultant highlighted poverty, poor education, lack of antenatal care and late presentation at the hospitals as major causes of infant deaths.

She told her audience that Nigeria currently has the highest number of neonatal deaths in Africa with 37 per 1,000 live births.

"Because of our huge population, we are losing over 250, 000 neonates every year and that is not to count still births. This is unacceptable and we need to address this problem," she added.

Disu urged stakeholders, government and non-governmental organizations to organize training for health workers on the basic ways to recognize danger signs in infants to prevent complications and deaths.

"And if government is able to provide the needed facilities along with trained healthcare worker, we are on the way to reducing infant and child mortality in the country," the expert added.