Home-based Interventions to Lower Neonatal Mortality Rates in Developing Countries

Aim: To evaluate Home-based interventions to lower neonatal mortality rates in developing countries. Background: A developing country is a country that is lacking in the services and facilities enjoyed by people in developed countries, such as personally owned automobiles and homes with indoor plumbing and water-carried sewage disposal systems. The difference in resources compared to developed regions, has been evident to the correlation of the increase neonatal mortality rates. Method: An electronic, systematic review of four databases were used to retrieve 209 articles initially, later filtered to 42 articles utilized in this review. The following databases used are as listed: CINAHL Plus with Full Text; APA PsycInfo; Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; and MEDLINE. Articles had to solely refer to developing regions and neonatal mortality. Key Issues: Developing countries continue to report the highest neonatal mortality rates. The leading etiologies for increased neonatal mortality rates (NMR) differ in these regions compared to developed countries. Causes and factors must be understood to allow for the appropriate interventions to be implemented in the plan of care. Conclusions: Home-based interventions and community care have shown to significantly aid in the reduction of neonatal mortality rates in developing countries. Evidence based studies have also concluded that interventions are often presented in packages. Packages targeting individual households with home-based intervention; packages improving communities with health workers; and packages aiming to strengthen the trust between facilities and communities via referrals and recommendations