Following a basic training program in newborn care for birth attendants, a study has revealed, the rate of stillbirths in rural areas of six developing countries fell more than 30 percent.

National Institutes of Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded the study which tracked more than 120,000 births.

Largest of its kind, the study is one of the first to track the rate of infant deaths following the implementation of such a regimen.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, in addition to more than 3 million stillbirths worldwide each year, nearly 4 million infants die in their first month of life.

As part of the Global Network for Women''s and Children''s Health Research, the research was conducted at study sites in Argentina, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, India, Pakistan, and Zambia.

Other infants need air pushed into their lungs. Birth attendants without training in recognizing and resuscitating newborns who do not breathe at birth may consider the babies to be stillborn and not attempt to revive them.

In a subsequent phase of the study, trainers led in-depth sessions focused exclusively on neonatal resuscitation techniques in 88 randomly selected communities, where attendants had already undergone the ENC program.

The researchers found this additional training did not further reduce infant mortality from stillbirth or other causes.

The New England Journal of Medicine published the findings appear in the February 21 issue.
(With Input from Agencies)