The three most common causes of death among newborns are genetic disease, premature birth and accidents, including putting a baby down to sleep on their stomach, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said yesterday as he called for greater awareness.
Hsueh made the remarks at a conference on reducing the nation’s neonatal mortality rate, organized by the Taiwan Society of Neonatology and the Taiwan Pediatric Association in Taipei.
Of the top causes of death among newborns, genetic disease caused by gene or chromosome mutation can be avoided if discovered during prenatal care checkups, but it could raise ethical issues, so it might be unacceptable for some parents, he said.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
Hsueh said the two other causes can be more easily avoided, as medical professionals strive to prevent premature births and to provide better medical assistance to premature babies.
Some accidents, including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) caused by laying a baby to sleep on their stomach, can also be prevented, he said.
Some parents believe that letting their newborn sleep on their stomach would help them have a round head, which is a “ridiculous” reason, Hsueh said.
The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) urges parents to avoid putting babies down to sleep on their bellies, he said, adding that the government would continue to raise public awareness about SIDS.
Child Welfare League Foundation president Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉) said Taiwan’s birthrate has fallen to almost the lowest in the world, but its neonatal mortality rate is higher than those in Japan and South Korea.
He urged the ministry to set up a specialized agency to assess and deal with the problem.
National Taiwan University Children Hospital’s Division of Neonatology attending physician Chou Hung-chieh (周弘傑) said the neonatal mortality rate has been increasing in the past three years.
The rate is about 2.4 deaths per 1,000 live births, which is 2.7 times that in Japan and 1.6 times that in South Korea, Chou said, calling on the government to pay attention to the problem.
Another common cause of neonatal death are perinatal respiratory disorders, he said.
A neonatal death database should be established to analyze the cases and improve critical issues, he added.
An HPA analysis suggested that a higher neonatal mortality rate is associated with a higher average maternal age, so medical care and support for pregnancy at an advanced maternal age is also important, Chou said.
National Health Insurance Administration Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said the National Health Insurance (NHI) system would cover “high-risk pregnancy neonatal emergency treatment fees,” following calls by medical professionals.
The decision was made at Thursday’ meeting of the National Health Insurance Pharmaceutical Benefit and Reimbursement Standard.
The NHI would cover three types of high-risk pregnancy neonatal emergency treatment fees, based on high, medium and low risk levels, Shih said.
The policy might take affect in September at the earliest, as it requires administrative review and final approval by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
‘MISGUIDED EDICT’: Two US representatives warned that Somalia’s passport move could result in severe retaliatory consequences and urged it to reverse its decision Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has ordered that a special project be launched to counter China’s “legal warfare” distorting UN Resolution 2758, a foreign affairs official said yesterday. Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday cited UN Resolution 2758 and Mogadishu’s compliance with the “one China” principle as it banned people from entering or transiting in the African nation using Taiwanese passports or other Taiwanese travel documents. The International Air Transport Association’s system shows that Taiwanese passport holders cannot enter Somalia or transit there. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested the move and warned Taiwanese against traveling to Somalia or Somaliland
RSS