The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, has called for urgent and coordinated action to reduce Nigeria’s high rate of newborn deaths, warning that the country remains far from achieving global neonatal survival targets.
Pate made the call in a speech delivered on his behalf by Dr Ahmed Mohammed at the 18th Annual General and Scientific Conference of the Nigerian Society of Neonatal Medicine in Port Harcourt.
The minister said Nigeria’s neonatal mortality rate stands at about 41 deaths per 1,000 live births, far above the Sustainable Development Goal target of 12 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030.
He described the conference theme, “Closing the Gap Towards Achieving Newborn-Related Sustainable Development Goals: Ending Nigeria’s Preventable Newborn Deaths,” as timely and aligned with the Federal Government’s health priorities.
While acknowledging gradual progress, Pate stressed that achieving the target would require sustained investment and stronger interventions across maternal and newborn healthcare.
He noted that many newborn deaths can be prevented through proven, cost-effective measures such as skilled birth attendance, neonatal resuscitation, kangaroo mother care for premature babies, early breastfeeding, infection prevention, and prompt referral for specialised care.
According to him, the Federal Government is scaling up newborn care through the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative by strengthening maternal and newborn health services, expanding kangaroo mother care and neonatal resuscitation programmes, upgrading special care baby units, deploying essential newborn commodities, and improving referral systems in collaboration with state governments and development partners.
Pate noted that progress in
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