International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medical Sciences 2020; 6(4): 71-78 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijcems doi: 10.11648/j.ijcems.20200604.14 ISSN: 2469-8024 (Print); ISSN: 2469-8032 (Online) Prevalence of Perinatal Mortality and Associated Factors Among Neonate Admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Jimma Medical Center, Oromia Region, Ethiopia Abiru Neme * , Gadisa Bekele, Gebeye Muleta Institute of Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Jimma University, Oromia, Ethiopia Email address: * Corresponding author To cite this article: Abiru Neme, Gadisa Bekele, Gebeye Muleta. Prevalence of Perinatal Mortality and Associated Factors Among Neonate Admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Jimma Medical Center, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medical Sciences. Vol. 6, No. 4, 2020, pp. 71-78. doi: 10.11648/j.ijcems.20200604.14 Received: May 20, 2020; Accepted: June 1, 2020; Published: August 18, 2020 Abstract: Background: Death of an infant in utero or at birth has been always a devastating experience for the mother and of the concern in clinical practice. Infant mortality remains a challenge in the care of pregnant women worldwide, but particularly for developing countries and the need to understand contributory factors is crucial for addressing appropriate perinatal health. Objective: To assess perinatal mortality and associated factors among neonate admitted to neonatal intensive care unit of Jimma medical center, Jimma zone, Oromia region, Southwest Ethiopia, 2019. Method: One year retrospective study was conducted from April 10 to April 25, 2019 among neonate admitted to neonatal intensive care unit of Jimma Medical center. All neonate admitted to neonatal intensive care unit from April 10 to April 25, 2019 was included in the study. Descriptive statistics were used to analyses data by using SPSS version 21. The relationship between perinatal death and fetal or neonatal characteristics were analyzed. Significance association was made when p < 0.05. Results: There was 191 total neonates admitted and 186 were included in the study period. The rate of perinatal death was 29.6%. The majority 156 (83.9%) of mother mode of delivery were spontaneous vaginal delivery. The dominant cause of admission to NICU was Sepsis followed by low birth weight and prematurity while the least was Perinatal Asphyxia and congenital malformation. The common cause of death among those admitted to NICU was prematurity, sepsis which accounts 67.9% and 20.75% respectively. Conclusions: This study showed that the magnitude of perinatal death at Jimma University Medical Centre is high. Most of babies were dying because of prematurity and sepsis. Improving quality of antenatal care and increasing awareness of women’s about danger signs of pregnancy, important place to focus to initiate cascade of improvement in poor perinatal outcome is necessary. Keywords: Perinatal, Mortality, Neonatal, Intensive, Care and Jimma Medical Center 1. Introduction Deaths of human being during the perinatal period despite many measures undertaken by the world remained among the top in the list of the most important public health problems. Worldwide, there are over 6.3 million perinatal deaths a year, almost all of which occur in developing countries, and 27% of them in the least developed countries alone. Stillbirths account for over half of all perinatal deaths. One third of stillbirths takes place during delivery, and are largely avoidable. Intrapartum deaths (i.e. those occurring during delivery) are closely linked to place of, and care at, delivery [19]. In Sub Saharan Africa approximately 30 million women become pregnant in a year. Of those, about 1 million deliveries are stillborn; at least 1million babies die in their first month of life and 0.5 million die on the first day. About 4 million LBW babies and others with neonatal complications may live but not reach their full potential. Africa accounts for 11% of world’s population but more than 25% of the worlds’ new born deaths.