Use of Verbal Autopsy as a Proxy to Determine the Possible Cause of Neonatal Deaths

Authors

  • B Baghel Assist. Professor, Dept. of Paediatrics, Government Medical College, Jagdalpur
  • AK Bansal Professor, Dept. of Preventive and Social Medicine, Government Medical College, Jagdalpur

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3126/jnps.v31i1.2942

Keywords:

Verbal Autopsy, Neonatal death, Reliable respondents and category of villages

Abstract

Introduction: Information on causes of death is extremely important for policy making, planning, monitoring, field research, future management statergies and epidemic awareness. The best method of finding the cause of death is by post mortem examination but since this is difficult, post death analysis by verbal autopsy is a good method to determine the same.
Objective: To asses the role of verbal autopsy method in the investigation of neonatal death and to determine the probable, causes of neonatal death.
Materials and Methods: A pre-tested questionnaire in Hindi was administered to 50 mothers and/or next of kin or other care givers of the deceased residing in villages around 200 Kms. of Bhopal and in urban slums of Municipal Corporation, Bhopal.
Results: 84 % of the total death occurred with in seven days of birth, 88 % of death occurred in villages where health facilities were available. As per verbal autopsy 36 % and 20 % of the infants died because of Birth asphyxia and Respiratory Distress Syndrome respectively and further 2%, 4% and 6% because of neonatal tetanus, hypothermia and other causes respectively.
Conclusion: Verbal autopsy could be one of the possible cost effective and a reliable tool for determining the causes of neonatal deaths at present.

Key words: Verbal Autopsy; Neonatal death; Reliable respondents and category of villages.

DOI: 10.3126/jnps.v31i1.2942

J Nep Paedtr Soc 2010;31(1):44-48

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Abstract
666
PDF
505

Downloads

Published

2011-01-11

How to Cite

Baghel, B., & Bansal, A. (2011). Use of Verbal Autopsy as a Proxy to Determine the Possible Cause of Neonatal Deaths. Journal of Nepal Paediatric Society, 31(1), 44–48. https://doi.org/10.3126/jnps.v31i1.2942

Issue

Vol. 31 No. 1 (2011)

Section

Original Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).