Kathmandu, March 2

To mark this year's World Birth Defects Day which falls on March 3, the World Health Organisation has highlighted the urgent need for countries in the South- East Asia Region, including Nepal, and the global community to strengthen health systems in a bid to prevent, detect, and manage birth defects that resemble the structural or functional anomalies that occur during the intrauterine life.

On the occasion, WHO has reaffirmed its commitment to support all the countries of the region to urgently strengthen health systems across the globe to prevent, detect, and manage birth defects.

Globally, an estimated eight million newborns are born with a birth defect every year. Nine out of every ten children born with a serious birth defect belong to low-income and middle-income countries. The most common severe birth defects are heart defects, neural tube defects and Down syndrome. However, there are many other defects that can be caused by one or more genetic, infectious, nutritional or environmental factors.

In the WHO South-East Asia Region, birth defects are the third most common cause of child mortality and the fourth most common cause of neonatal mortality, accounting for 12 per cent of all neonatal deaths. The birth defects increased as a proportion of child mortality in the region, from 6.2 per cent to 9.2 per cent between 2010 and 2019. And in four countries, birth defects now contribute to more than 20 per cent of under-five mortality.

In 2019, birth defects contributed to at least 117,000 deaths in the region, accounting for around 22 per cent of the global total.

Since 2014, WHO has been supporting all the countries of the region to drive rapid and sustained reductions in maternal, newborn and child mortality, which has included targeted action to prevent, detect, and manage birth defects.

All the member states have initiated hospital-based birth defect surveillance and are on course to implementing national action plans to prevent and manage birth defects.

According to a statement released by the WHO today, six member states – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, and Nepal – continue to support a WHO-developed online database to better track birth defects. To date, the database has recorded over 4.7 million births in the region, including about 51,000 infants born with birth defects.

All countries have initiated routine rubella vaccination for girls, achieving an average coverage rate of 83 per cent. Maldives and Sri Lanka have eliminated rubella, and Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Timor-Leste have controlled congenital rubella syndrome.

'All member states continue to implement folic acid supplementation and several states have fortified foods such as wheat flour with folic acid, vitamin B-12 and iron. Across the region, pregnant women continue to be counselled to avoid potentially harmful medications, X-rays, tobacco products, alcohol and drugs,' it said.

In most of the countries, basic services for birth defect care and management are available. However, access to advanced treatments, rehabilitation and support for affected babies and families remains inadequate, as in the case of genetic and metabolic screening.

A version of this article appears in the print on March 3, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.