Expert Raises Alarm Over Silent Crisis Killing Thousands Of Newborns In Nigeria

(The Executive Director of the Centre for Newborn Health Research and Innovation, Olufunke Bolaji. Photo by Punch News)

The Executive Director of the Centre for Newborn Health Research and Innovation, Olufunke Bolaji, has said that the leading causes of neonatal deaths in Nigeria are largely preventable or treatable through skilled care.

Bolaji, a consultant paediatrician and neonatologist, said the country loses around 280,000 newborns annually within the first 28 days of life, making it the second-highest contributor to neonatal deaths globally.

She spoke in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday while discussing the focus of the newly inaugurated CeNHRI, a research and innovation centre established by the Ekiti State Government within the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, with support from the Gates Foundation and the Initiative for Social Impact and Development.

CeNHRI was inaugurated by Ekiti State Governor Biodun Oyebanji on June 5, with a mandate to generate evidence, build clinical capacity, drive innovation, and translate research into policy and practice for newborn health.

At the inauguration, the governor described the centre as a meeting point for researchers, clinicians, policymakers, development partners, and communities to collaborate on practical, life-saving solutions, adding that although based in Ado Ekiti, the centre was deliberately conceived as an Africa-focused institution intended to generate knowledge, strengthen health systems, and contribute to a significant reduction in neonatal mortality across the continent.

Bolaji explained that the centre, which targets improved outcomes for mothers and newborns, was established with the same goals of generating evidence, building clinical capacity, driving innovation, and translating research into policy and practice.

She said what makes Nigeria’s newborn mortality burden particularly troubling is that many of the deaths are avoidable, noting that with skilled birth attendants, timely resuscitation, quality essential newborn care, improved management of small and sick newborns, stronger referral systems, and better frontline capacity, many babies currently being lost could survive.

According to her, the leading causes of neonatal deaths, including prematurity, perinatal asphyxia, and neonatal infections, are largely preventable or treatable with skilled intervention.

She lamented, however, that a wide gap persists between medical knowledge and what is actually practised at the point of care, citing a lack of structured simulation-based training for health workers, insufficient locally generated evidence, research that rarely reaches the ward, and a disconnect between policy and practice.

Bolaji said CeNHRI hopes to close this gap through simulation-based training, research, capacity building, and policy engagement tailored specifically to the Nigerian health system.

She disclosed that the centre features a purpose-built simulation facility equipped with high-fidelity mannequins, clinical equipment, and observation tools, allowing healthcare workers to practise life-saving newborn care techniques in a realistic, safe, and repeatable setting before applying them in actual clinical situations.

She added that the first cohort of simulation-based training for healthcare workers across Ekiti State is expected to begin in the third quarter of the year.

She concluded by describing CeNHRI’s mission as bridging the gap between evidence and practice, research and policy, and clinical knowledge and life-saving action, stressing that every health system deserves quality evidence to improve, every health worker deserves the tools and skills to act effectively, and every newborn deserves a fair chance to survive.