Objective: To look at the trends in maternal mortality in our institution over 5 years. Methods: Records of 112 maternal deaths were retrospectively reviewed to determine the trends and the likely direct cause of each death over the study period. Results: There were a total of 112 maternal deaths, while 3931 deliveries were conducted over the 5-year period. The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) was 2849/100,000 deliveries. The highest MMR of 6234/100,000 was observed in 2003, with remarkable decline to 1837/100,000 in 2007. Eclampsia consistently remained the leading cause, accounting for 46.4% of the maternal deaths, followed by sepsis and postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) contributing 17% and 14.3%, respectively. There were no statistically signifi cant differences in the corresponding percentages of maternal deaths between various age groups (χ 2 ϭ 6.68; P ϭ 0.083). Grandmultiparas accounted for a signifi cant proportion of maternal deaths as compared to low parity, with χ 2 ϭ 10.43; P ϭ 0.00054. Lack of seeking antenatal care (unbooked) and illiteracy were observed to be signifi cant determinants of maternal mortality (χ 2 ϭ 64.69, P ϭ 0.00000; and χ 2 ϭ 18.52, P ϭ 0.0000168, respectively). Conclusion:In spite of decrease in the maternal mortality ratio over the years, it still remains high, with eclampsia persistently contributing most signifi cantly. Community enlightenment on the need to avail of antenatal care and hospital delivery services, and improvement in the quality of skilled maternity care will, among other factors, drastically curtail these preventable causes of maternal death and reduce MMR.

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Objective: To determine the incidence of maternal mortality associated with eclampsia and to determine how sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the women infl uence the deaths. Methodology: Records of 52 eclampsia-related mortalities from January 2003 to December 2007 were reviewed, retrospectively. Their social demography, mode and place of delivery, time of eclampsia, and fetal outcome were extracted for analysis. Results: Eclampsia accounted for 52 (46.4%) of the 112 total maternal deaths recorded within the 5-year period, with case fatality of 22.33%. Age group <20, 20-29 and above 30 all had similar case fatality rate of 22.1%, 23.8% and 26.7%, respectively. Those who were experiencing their fi rst deliveries have the worst deaths recording 42.5% of the case fatality in that category. As expected, unbooked had higher case fatality of 24.0% compared to 15% among booked cases, while those with no formal education also had more death (22.3% case fatality) as compared to 3.3% among those who had some form of formal education. Antepartum eclampsia was the cause in 50% of the death, 11(21.2%) of the pregnancies were not delivered before their death, while 18 (34.6%) were stillbirth. Conclusion: Eclampsia still remains the major cause of maternal mortality in this region resulting from unsupervised pregnancies and deliveries. There is need to educate and encourage the general public for antenatal care and hospital delivery.Keywords: Eclampsia, maternal mortality, northern Nigeria Résumé objectif: pour déterminer l'incidence de la mortalité maternelle associés à éclampsie et pour déterminer comment caractéristiques sociodémographiques et cliniques de l'infl uence de femmes le décès. méthodologie: dossiers de de 52 éclampsie mortalité connexe de janvier 2003 -décembre 2007 ont été examinées rétrospectivement. Leur démographie sociale, la mode et le lieu de livraison, temps de éclampsie et le résultat du foetus ont été extraits pour analyse. résultats: éclampsie ont représenté 52(46.4%) de décès maternels total 112 enregistrés dans les cinq ans période, en cas de décès de 22.33 %. groupe d'âge < 20, all 20-29 et au-dessus de 30 avait même taux de létalité de 22.1 %, de 23,8 % et de 26,7 % respectivement. Ceux qui éprouvaient leurs premières livraisons ont les pires décès enregistrement 42,5 % de l'affaire accidents mortels dans cette catégorie. Comme prévu unbooked avait supérieur cas de décès de 24,0 % comparativement à 15 % parmi les cas un avertissement, alors que celles sans aucune l'éducation formelle a également eu plusieurs décès (22,3 % cas mortel) par rapport à 3,3 % Parmi ceux qui avaient une forme de l'éducation formelle. Antepartum éclampsie a été la cause de 50 % de la mort, 11(21.2%) de la grossesse n'étaient pas livrés avant leur mort, alors que 18 (34,6 %) ont été mortinaissance. conclusion: éclampsie demeure toujours la principale cause de mortalité maternelle dans cette région résultant Annals of African Medicine Vol. 8, No. 2; 2009:81-84 Original Article

Hyperthermia is a high-risk event in ELBW infants and methods of cooling a high and prolonged temperature must be reviewed.

Nigeria has a record of high newborn mortality as an estimated 778 babies die daily, accounting for a ratio of 48 deaths per 1000 live births. The aim of this paper was to show how a deteriorating neonatal delivery system in Nigeria may have, in part, been improved by the application of a novel recycled incubator technique (RIT). Retrospective assessment of clinical, technical, and human factors in 15 Nigerian neonatal centres was carried out to investigate how the application of RIT impacted these factors. Pre-RIT and post-RIT neonatal mortalities were compared by studying case files. Effect on neonatal nursing was studied through questionnaires that were completed by 79 nurses from 9 centres across the country. Technical performance was assessed based on 10-indices scores from clinicians and nurses. The results showed an increase in neonatal survival, nursing enthusiasm, and practice confidence. Appropriately recycled incubators are good substitutes to the less affordable modern incubators in boosting neonatal practice outcome in low-income countries.