Factors Associated with Neonatal Mortality: A Case Study of the Luebo Health Zone Hospitals in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Introduction Neonatal mortality is a worldwide problem. About 2.7 million newborns died in 2015. The under-five mortality rate was 127 per 1, 000 in 2011 in Africa and 97 per 1, 000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Kasai Occidental, it was 23 per 1, 000 during the period covered by the 2010 MICS survey. The objective of this study is to identify the risk factors associated with neonatal mortality in the Luebo Health Zone in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Materials and methods We used a retrospective and cross-sectional study. The population included all births in 2016 in three maternity wards. Data were collected from birthing records, prenatal consultation records (PNC), partographs and annual reports. The EPI Info 6 software was used for data analysis. The Chi-square and the odd ratio test were calculated and the logistic regression was applied. Results The study revealed 32 deaths out of 683 newborns registered in the three maternity hospitals in 2016, which represents a rate of 47. The main factors associated with neonatal mortality in the Luebo Health Zone are, less than 5 surviving infants from mothers (p