JSANDS published a new chapter in Handbook of Healthcare in the Arab World.

JSANDS published a new chapter on Birth and Neonatal Death Registrations in Jordan in Handbook of Healthcare in the Arab World.

The chapter “Birth and Neonatal Death Registrations in Jordan
” examines to what extent births and neonatal deaths are underreported and discusses the challenges facing the current registration system in Jordan. Irrespective of where the event occurs, reporting a birth or death in Jordan to the Civil Status and Passports Department is initiated by a family member. Stillbirths in Jordan are not routinely registered. Moreover, the majority of neonatal deaths are underreported, and the causes of neonatal death are very likely recorded inaccurately. There are several reasons for this, but avoidable reasons center around the death notification, including the causes of death, which is not usually completed by the attending physician as physicians are not well trained on assigning causes of death; they are often not aware of the definitions of and distinctions between direct causes, underlying causes, and contributing causes of death.
The majority of neonatal deaths in Jordan and all stillbirths go unreported and are not registered in Jordan. The underreporting is mainly attributable to a dysfunctional reporting system and the fact that families, not the health system, are responsible for registering births and deaths. Greater investment of resources is needed to improve vital registration and the health information system in Jordan. Timely actions are required at two levels: at the institutional level immediately after a stillbirth or an infant death has occurred and at a national level from data received from institutional levels. Since a high proportion of deaths occur in, or have been in contact with, the health system, investments in its ability to report neonatal deaths are therefore warranted. Clear policies and guidelines are required to ensure data collection activity is accurate, timely, comprehensive, and accessible to policy makers.