Neonatal tetanus (NT) though a preventable disease, remains a disturbing cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality particularly in low income countries where maternal and child care are substandard and antitetanus immunization coverage is still poor. The disease, which is mostly fatal, is particularly common in hard to reach and rural areas where deliveries take place at home or with untrained attendants without adequate sterile procedures and in unclean environment. Since eliminating NT became a global target, significant reductions in NT deaths have been reported. The most recent estimates by WHO (2015) put death of newborns due to NT at 34,019, a 96% reduction from the situation in the late 1980s. All countries are committed to elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), i.e., a reduction of NT incidence to below one case per 1000 live births per year in every district. A strong neonatal tetanus surveillance (NTS) is however required to achieve this. As of March 2018, only 14 countries were yet to eliminate MNT and this includes Nigeria. The different types of NTS recommended are conducted to varying degrees of efficiency and effectiveness in Nigeria under the major surveillance strategy the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR). These include routine monthly surveillance, zero reporting, active surveillance and retrospective record review. Nigeria comprises six geopolitical zones, 36 states and a Federal Capital territory (FCT), and is made up of 774 Local Government areas (LGA) (districts) an LGA being the lowest administrative level. This study was conducted in Bayelsa state one of the six states in the south zone. It is made up of eight LGAs, more than half of which are riverine and consists of many hard-to-reach communities, where formal functional health facilities are few and far between. Health workers are in short supply and funding of health care delivery is poor in the state.
Objective: To assess the performance of neonatal tetanus surveillance in Bayelsa state of Nigeria.