Decreasing birth asphyxia: utility of statistical process control in a low-resource setting

The neonatal period is a critical time for survival of the child. A disproportionate amount of neonatal deaths occur in low-resource countries and are attributable to perinatal events, especially birth asphyxia. This project aimed to reduce the incidence of birth asphyxia by 20% by June 2014 through training in neonatal resuscitation and improving the availability of resuscitation equipment in the delivery room in the National Hospital Abuja, Nigeria.A prospective, longitudinal study using statistical process control analytical methods was done enrolling babies delivered at the National Hospital Abuja.Low Apgar scores or birth asphyxia (defined a priori as any score