Addis Ababa Birth Cohort (ABC)

Neonatal infections cause approximately 557,000 neonatal deaths worldwide every year and account for the greatest proportion of neonatal deaths in Ethiopia, yet there are limited studies investigating the modes of acquiring neonatal infection and identifying risk factors (maternal, neonatal, biological) in order to decrease the incidence of early-onset neonatal sepsis among newborns. Through a prospective cohort study, an in-depth surveillance of maternal and neonatal deaths identified in our cohort was done to better assess newborn causes of death and the clinical practices in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

This study aimed to:

• Describe the distribution of maternal and neonatal outcomes among women who deliver at a tertiary care center in Ethiopia
• Determine the etiologies of early-onset neonatal bacterial infections (days 0-6 of life) and late-onset neonatal sepsis (days 7-28 of life)
• Determine patterns of antimicrobial resistance among bacterial isolates
• Establish a bio-repository of biological samples for future studies with clinical epidemiology data
• Understand the causes of death among newborns in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.