[Neonatal mortality in 1998 in the municipality of Botucatu]

Considering that neonatal mortality is an indicator of the quality of the care provided to pregnant women, at childbirth as well as to the new born, authors developed the present study, whose aim was to analyze the neonatal mortality during the year of 1998 at the municipality Botucatu-SP. The coefficient of neonatal mortality was of 8.3/1000 born alive and the coefficient of precocious neonatal mortality was of 7.3/1000 born alive, confirming the importance of decease in the first week of life. Results showed that approximately 3/4 of the deceases can be reduced through precocious diagnosis and treatment as well as adequate care to birth or partially reduced through appropriate pregnancy control measures, evidencing that in order to decrease the rates of neonatal death, investments must be made to improve the quality of the care to pregnant women, parturients and the new born.