Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) has called for continuous efforts in the fight against infant deaths in the country.

This comes in response to a UNICEF report which shows that 1 out of 37 new-born babies die in Malawi within the first month from preventable causes.

In an interview with YFM, Executive Director for MHEN, George Jobe commended government and other stakeholders for facilitating the reduction of infant mortality rate.

However, Jobe underlined the need to intensify efforts to reduce infant mortality.

“We need to do more in order to entirely deal with this obstacle it is possible to achieve a zero rate where no babies die.”

Jobe said government should ensure that there is a radius of 8 kilometers between two health facilities as stipulated in its policies.

He also asked government to ensure that more health centers have maternal services.

Malawi’s newborn mortality rate stands at 23.1, which puts the country on position 11 under the ranking of low income countries in the world that have a low mortality rate.