Abstract

Birth asphyxia, the failure of a newborn to initiate and sustain spontaneous breathing at birth, remains one of the leading and most preventable causes of neonatal death worldwide. It contributes to roughly a quarter of the 2.3 million neonatal deaths recorded annually, and its burden is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, where Nigeria carries one of the heaviest national tolls. Antenatal care offers a uniquely repeated and trusted point of contact through which expectant mothers could be equipped to recognise risk, prepare for a skilled birth, and act quickly when labour becomes abnormal; yet routine antenatal education in most low-resource settings concentrates on nutrition, hygiene, and general danger signs while saying little about intrapartum and immediate newborn emergencies such as asphyxia. This narrative review synthesises current global, regional, and Nigerian evidence on the burden of birth asphyxia, the protective value of antenatal education and nurse or midwife training, and the practical content that asphyxia-focused education should contain. It then outlines a pragmatic, nurse-led pathway for embedding a short, repeatable asphyxia-prevention module within existing antenatal clinics, examines the institutional, system, and maternal barriers that make this integration a genuinely herculean task, and offers recommendations for practice and policy. The review argues that, although the obstacles are substantial, a structured and adequately supported nurse-led approach is both feasible and necessary if Nigeria and comparable settings are to advance toward Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 and the Every Newborn Action Plan target of fewer than 12 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030.

Keywords: birth asphyxia, antenatal education, antenatal care, neonatal mortality, nursing, Nigeria,

Cite this article: