The first baby of the new year born at the Vila Central Hospital (VCH) came into the world at 12.21am January, to a mother from Tongoa.
The second baby was born at 1.57am to a mother from Ambae and the third one at 1.43pm to a mother from Santo part Ifira.
All the three new year’s babies are female.
Seven other babies were born on the second day of new year.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated that around 23 babies will be born on new year in Vanuatu.
No baby was born on new year’s day at Melsisi Hospital on Pentecost and the Northern Provincial Hospital (NPH) on Santo.
NPH recorded the first four new year’s baby on January 2, 2020.
One baby was born on new year’s day at the Vaemali Hospital in Epi and another one (a male) was born at Paunangisu Health Centre in north Efate.
The Daily Post could not reach other hospitals such as Lenakel prior to print yesterday.
Each January, UNICEF celebrates babies born on New Year’s Day, an auspicious day for child birth around the world.
Fiji in the Pacific delivered one of the world’s first babies of 2020.
It is estimated that that 782 babies were born on New Year’s Day in the Pacific and nearly 4million were born globally.
India has the highest number of babies born globally with China coming second.
In 2018, 2.5million newborn babies died in just their first month of life; about a third of them on the first day of their life.
Among those children, most died from preventable causes such as premature birth, complications during delivery, and infections like sepsis, according to UNICEF.
“Over the past three decades, the world has seen remarkable progress in child survival, cutting the number of children worldwide who die before their fifth birthday by more than half.
“But there has been slower progress for newborns.
Babies dying in the first month accounted for 47 per cent of all deaths among children under five in 2018, up from 40 per cent in 1990.”
The beginning of a new year and a new decade is an opportunity to reflect on our hopes and aspirations not only for our future, but the future of those who will come after us, the UNICEF Executive Director , Henrietta Fore, said in a statement.
SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST
