QUETTA: Pakistan ranks third in the world for most neonatal deaths, a health workshop was informed here on Friday.

According to a senior gynaecologist at the Bolan Medical Complex Hospital (BMCH), 44 per cent of babies die within 28 days of their birth.

Dr Rukhsana Kasi said majority of such deaths could be prevented with proper and timely use of Chlorhexdine (CHX) – an antiseptic preparation. The medicine had biocide effect against virus and gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, fungi and certain other diseases, she said at the workshop titled `Improving Chlorhexidine Advocacy for Newborns’ organised by Mercy Corps, an NGO.

In Balochistan, 89 children out of every thousand below the age of five were vulnerable to fatal infection and nine other diseases. One in every 11 child dies before his/her fifth birthday.

Dr Nasar Ahmed Siddique, a paediatrician at the BMCH, said that CHX in tablet form would be available from next month. Dr Sa’adullah and Naseer Hammal of Mercy Corps also spoke.

A senior journalist urged Mercy Corps and other NGOs to prepare brochures on the importance of CHX and create public awareness through electronic media.

Published in Dawn, November 15th , 2014