The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, said 280,000 newborn babies die within the first 28 days of life due to the problems of prematurity.
Pate also said the country records 162,000 childhood pneumonia-related deaths annually.
He made this statement on Wednesday in Abuja during a briefing to commemorate the 2025 World Pneumonia and Prematurity Days, as well as the launch of the Nigerian Child Survival Action Plan and the National Birth Defect Surveillance Guideline.
The 2025 World Prematurity Day, themed “Give preterm babies a strong start for a brighter future,” and the World Pneumonia Day, themed “Child survival, focusing on pneumonia’s impact as the leading infectious cause of child death,” align with the aspirations and shared values of the Sector-Wide Approach in offering quality care for newborns and under-fives in this era of climate change.
World Prematurity Day is observed annually on November 17 to raise awareness of preterm birth and its impact on the health and well-being of affected babies and their families.
World Pneumonia Day is observed on November 12 to raise awareness and educate people about how to combat the disease.
Pate, who was represented by the Director of Health Promotion, John Urakpa, said data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey revealed that the country’s under-five mortality rate declined from 201 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 110 in 2023—representing a 45 per cent reduction.
He, however, noted that despite this progress, approximately 850,000 preventable newborn and under-five deaths are predicted to occur annually in Nigeria.
He warned that the country remains off track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal target of reducing under-five mortality to less than 25 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030.
The Minister said about 100 million childhood pneumonia cases occur globally each year, causing around 808,920 deaths, with Nigeria and 14 other countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for nearly three-quarters of the total.
“Nigeria and 14 other countries account for about three-quarters of the global childhood pneumonia mortality. These unfavourable indices, and those of other childhood killer diseases, are still responsible for the observably high under-five mortality of 110/1,000 live births as reported by the 2024 NDHS. It is true that the global health community has swiftly mobilised against malaria, polio, tuberculosis, and HIV. Unfortunately, childhood pneumonia, termed the ‘forgotten killer’ of the under-fives, has not received priority attention as an important contributor to global childhood morbidity and mortality.
“The collaboration of the Ministry with the Every Breath Counts Coalition and the Paediatric Association of Nigeria in the last five years has had an invaluable impact. The development of the In-Patient Pneumonia Treatment Algorithm has not only strengthened the clinical skills of secondary and tertiary healthcare workers in managing severe and complicated pneumonia but, to a great extent, accounted for the drop in the under-five mortality rate from 132/1,000 in 2018 to 110/1,000 live births in 2024, as reported by the NDHS.
(Punch)
