Treatment outcome and associated factors of perinatal asphyxia among neonates hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit of Hiwot Fana comprehensive specialized hospital, Harar, Ethiopia

Abstract

Birth asphyxia is defined as neonate’s failure to initiate and sustain breathing at birth. It can be caused by events in the antepartum or intraparum period. Globally 20-30% of neonates with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy die while 33–50% of survivors have permanent neurodevelopmental abnormalities (cerebral palsy, mental retardation). Most of the deaths occur in low-resource countries such as Ethiopia. The burden in our setting is not studied previously.