Research study reveals that babies not weighed at birth have lower survival rates in Sub-Saharan Africa

Babies who aren’t weighed at birth in Sub-Saharan Africa are far less likely to survive to the age of five than those who are, according to new research led by Coventry University. 

Weighing babies at birth helps identify those who need extra care and medical attention - but in rural or low-resource areas of Africa, where births frequently take place at home and without skilled support, this important part of postnatal care is often missed.  

As a result, serious health issues including poor nutrition, infection or other complications may occur, raising the risk of illness or death in the first five years of life. 

To explore the link between recorded birth weight and survival rates, Dr Abiodun Adanikin from the university’s Research Centre for Healthcare and Communities analysed data from more than 300,000 children across 33 Sub-Saharan African countries, based on surveys carried out between 2011 and 2022. 

Abiodun grouped children based on whether they had been weighed at birth, then tracked survival patterns across these groups. He also compared birth weight data with information on the place of birth and access to healthcare to better understand the factors that might influence survival. 

The study found that babies without a recorded birthweight were at least three and a half times more likely to die within the first 28 days. This increased risk remained over time, with these children almost twice as likely to die before their first birthday and nearly twice as likely to die before the age of five. These findings applied not only to babies born at home or in remote areas but also to those born in health facilities without a measured birth weight.

Babies who weren’t weighed at birth were at even greater risk than those who were weighed and identified as having low birth weight - a group already known to be medically vulnerable and in need of extra care.

Find out more about the study: Mortality risks of infants with unmeasured birth weight in 33 sub-Saharan African countries: an observational analysis | BMJ Global Health.