Update on mothers towards neonatal umbilical cord sepsis: African perspectives
Neonatal umbilical sepsis continues to be a major health problem with up to 323 of every 1000 neonates seen inclinics presenting with clinical symptoms. The unhealed umbilical cord is a major entry point for local and invasiveinfections during the neonatal period and is rapidly colonised by bacteria from the environment. The reasons for thehigh incidence of neonatal sepsis in developing countries are high incidence of home deliveries, unhygienic cordcutting, application of unclean substances to the stump and covering the stump with unclean fabric