Etiology, Prevention and Treatment of Neonatal Infections in the Community

The study seeks answers to two questions:

• What are the major bacterial pathogens responsible for serious neonatal infections in the community in rural Bangladesh?
• Can provision of a package of obstetric and neonatal care, including active surveillance for serious neonatal illness and referral to hospital, and identification of barriers to care-seeking and design of strategies to address them reduce neonatal mortality rates by at least 40% compared to communities in which such services are not provided?

Despite significant decline in infant and child mortality rates in recent decades, neonatal mortality rates remain unacceptably high. Of the 8 million infant deaths that occur worldwide each year, approximately 4 million occur in the neonatal period.

Hence, the specific aims of the study include:

• identifying the principal agents of serious bacterial infections in Bangladeshi neonates in the community
• evaluating the impact of introducing a package of essential obstetric and neonatal care practices in the community, including identifying barriers to care-seeking and design of strategies to address those barriers and
• building capacity within Bangladesh by training Bangladeshi scientists in epidemiological and microbiological techniques, clinical research methods and best clinical practice through an on-going collaboration with Dhaka Shishu (Children) Hospital and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh.

Inclusion criteria

• pregnant women (any age)
• newborns

Exclusion criteria

• children (outside newborn period)