Birth weights of Nigerian newborn infants--a review

Birthweight (BW) is an important denominator for a continuing re-appraisal of a Nation's health care delivery and neonatal viability. A constant surveillance of BW is therefore of utmost importance and a decline, when detected should allow for selecting areas at great risk, identifying causes for the decline and proffering possible corrections. The mean BWs of Nigerian babies differ within the country and, in general, are lower than those of caucasian counterparts. Information is accruing that low BWs are created by factors most of which can be prevented or significantly modified. Mean BWs in Nigeria are highest in the South (lagos: 3380g) and the Middle-Belt (Jos: 3280g: male, 3186g: female). The goal of this synopsis is to summarize and critically analyse the information available to us and to show the lacunae in our knowledge where future research is imperative.