Africa is riskiest place to be born, report says

[May 07, 2013]  NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- A new report says that every year more than 1 million babies die on the day they are born.

The 14 countries with the highest rates of first-day deaths are all in Africa. The top five are Somalia, Congo, Mali, Sierra Leone and Central African Republic. Eighteen out of 1,000 babies in Somalia die the day they are born.

The report, "Surviving the First Day" from the aid group Save the Children, was released Tuesday. It says that many sub-Saharan countries have high rates of pre-term births. Poor health and nutrition among expecting mothers also contributes.

The largest numbers of first-day deaths occur in India, with more than 300,000 per year. Nigeria is second at nearly 90,000 per year.

[Associated Press]

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