Baby-care course drops stillbirth rate

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 8 (UPI) -- The stillbirth rate in Argentina, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, India, Pakistan and Zambia dropped after training was offered, researchers say.

The study, funded by National Institutes of Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, tracked more than 120,000 births in the developing countries.

The researchers, led by Dr. Waldemar A. Carlo of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, tested the efficacy of a three-day Essential Newborn Care training regimen that covers basic newborn care techniques -- such as baby CPR, the importance of early breastfeeding, how to keep infants warm and dry, and signs of serious health problems.

"In Zambia, 10 percent of the children were thought to be dead at birth, but we have long known that if we stimulate the child -- perform CPR on the babies -- the child may start breathing," Carlo told United Press International. "The child may not have any obvious signs of being alive, but can have a heart beat, sometimes a very weak heartbeat and providing this low-cost training could be huge in saving a significant number of infants."

The findings suggest a low-cost instructional regimen for birth attendants can be effective in reducing stillbirths in parts of the world where most births are not attended by a physician, Dr. Alan E. Guttmacher, acting director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said in a statement.

The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, found the rate of stillbirths dropped sharply -- from 23 per 1,000 deliveries to 15.9 per 1,000.