THE United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has stated that one of the first babies born in the world was the daughter of Losena Adibale.
Adibale, 42, gave birth to her daughter between 12 midnight and 12.01 am on New Year’s Day at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva.
UNICEF also said that an estimated 740 babies were born in the Pacific on New Year’s Day.
In a statement, UNICEF stated that in cities around the world, revellers would welcome not only the New Year with great festivities but also their newest and tiniest residents.
It stated that at the stroke of midnight, Sydney would greet an estimated 168 babies, followed by 310 in Tokyo, 605 in Beijing, 166 in Madrid and finally, 317 in New York.
However, they also stated that as many families welcome new family members on January 1, in several countries most of these newborn would not make it past the first day.
“In 2017, about 1 million babies died the day they were born and 2.5 million in just their first month of life.
“Among those children, most died from preventable causes such as premature birth, complications during delivery and infections like sepsis and pneumonia, a violation of their basic right to survival,” UNICEF said.
UNICEF Pacific representative Sheldon Yett said in this new year, we must make the resolution to fulfil the right of every child starting with the right to survive.
“We can save millions of babies if we invest in training and equipping local health workers so that every newborn is born into a safe pair of hands,” he said.
