Morbidity and mortality of childhood illnesses at the emergency paediatric unit of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City.

Objective: To describe the pattern of morbidity and mortality as seen at the Emergency Paediatric Unit of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City. Methods: A retrospective study in which records of admissions over a two-year period were obtained from the medical and ward records. Information retrieved included age, sex, diagnosis, duration of stay in the unit and outcome. Results: A total of 3,261 patients aged between 29 days and 16 years were admitted into the Children Emergency Room during the period. Of these, 1,835 (56.3%) were males while 1,426 (43.7%) were females. The total number of underfives admitted was 2,289 (70.2% of total admissions). The major causes of admission were malaria (44.4%), respiratory tract infections (17.8%) and gastroenteritis with moderate or severe dehydration (10.1%). There were 992 (30.4%) discharges while 2,126 (65.2%) were transferred tothe paediatric wards for further management. One hundred and forty-three (4.4%) patients died during the period with over 80% being children five years or less. Severe malaria accounted for the largest number of deaths (29.4%) in the unit, followed by meningitis (16.9%) and septicaemia (15.4%) with over 80% of the deaths being from infectious diseases. Conclusion: Infectious diseases are still the major causes of morbidity and mortality especially in underfives in our locality. The role of environmental sanitation, health education and good nutrition in the health of the child must be brought to the fore. The nation's immunisation schedule should include vaccines against infectious organisms like Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae which are major causes of pneumonia and meningitis in childhood. Also, a boost in the coverage of our health insurance scheme would be a step in the right direction. Key Words: Pattern, morbidity, mortality, Emergency Paediatric Unit, admissions.