Claim: “8,510 newborns die annually during childbirth in Liberia.”
Kolie posted on September 3, 2024, claiming, among other things, that 1,100 women and 8,510 newborns die annually during childbirth in Liberia (World Health Organization, 2024).
As of our check, the post attracted 682 reactions, 574 comments, and 214 shares.
Neonatal death is clarified into viable and non-viable deaths depending on the gestational age at which they were born and where they were born.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has it that sub-Saharan Africa and southern and central Asia will have the highest neonatal mortality rates in 2022, with the risk of death in the first month being 11 times higher in these regions.
The highest-mortality countries have a 60 times higher risk of dying before the 28th day of life compared to the lowest-mortality countries.
In 2022, 2.3 million children worldwide lost their first 20 days, with 6500 neonatal fatalities daily, accounting for 47% of all child deaths under five.
We found data from the World Bank Group which puts the most recent number of maternal deaths in Liberia at 1,100 as of 2020.
We also saw a May 2024 press release on the UNICEF website titled “H6 Joint Mission Concludes Visit to Liberia, Calls for Urgent Action to Reduce Maternal and Newborn Mortality.
In the release, the United Nations (H6) joint mission highlighted the urgent need for action to combat the high burden of increasing maternal and newborn deaths in the country.
The delegation revealed that 1,100 women and 8,510 newborns die annually during childbirth in Liberia.
Further research found an Analysis of Infant Mortality in the 2013 and 2019–2020 Liberia Demographic and Health Surveys published in March 2022 facilitated by the United States Agency for International Development.
The report concerns one of the most important indicators of health in any country—infant mortality, measured by deaths in the first year after birth.
There is a large literature on the analysis of early mortality. It is not reviewed here, but the reader is referred to Balk et al. (2003) and Winter et al. (2013) for analyses of specifically DHS data and to Hill and Choi (2006) for more general background.
The analysis is limited to Liberia, a West African country with a population of approximately five million people.
The final report on the 2019–20 Liberia Demographic and Health Survey (LDHS) found that under-5 mortality had not improved in the recent past, and infant mortality may have increased.
The report puts the most recent estimates of the IMR and U5MR at 63 and 93, respectively, of 1,000 births, a decline of nearly 60%.
Another report puts the country’s current infant mortality rate at 45.642 deaths per 1000 live births as of 2024, a 2.64% decline from 2023. In 2023, Liberia’s infant mortality rate was 46.882, a 2.9% decline from 2022.
Conclusion: After our research, Kollie is mostly correct on the deaths of infants in Liberia. Liberia has one of the world’s highest rates of maternal mortality and the country ranks 7th globally and 3rd in Africa for maternal and newborn mortality.
