Neonatal near misses and associated factors among mother’s who give a live neonate at Hawassa City governmental hospitals, 2019: a facility based cross-sectional study design

BACKGROUND: Neonatal near miss is a neonate who nearly died but survived from a severe complication occurred during pregnancy, birth or within 0–28 days of extra-uterine life. However, there is no available data that quantifies the magnitude of neonatal near miss (NNM) in Ethiopia where there is high prevalence of neonatal mortality. Therefore, this study is designed to provide information about the magnitude and associated factors of neonatal near miss among women who give a live birth at Hawassa City Governmental hospitals, 2019. METHODS: A facility based cross-sectional study design was conducted on 604 mothers who gave live neonates at Adare General Hospital and Hawassa University Comprehensive and Specialized Hospital from May 9, 2019 to June 7, 2019. Face to face interviewer administered structured questionnaire with a supplementation of maternal and neonatal medical records with checklists were used to collect the data. Data were coded and entered in to Epi data version 3.1 and then exported to the Statistical Package for Social Science IBM version 25 for analysis. Descriptive statistics was run and the data were presented using frequency tables and figure. The bi-variable and multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the possible factors of neonatal near miss. Finally, Adjusted Odds Ratio and 95% Confidence Intervals were used to declare statsticall significance. RESULT: Among all 604 selected live births an overall proportion of NNM cases, 202 (33.4%) (95% CI: 29.7–37.1%) was obtained at Hawassa City Government Hospitals. Respiratory distress 158 (94%) and infection or sepsis 138 (84%) were found to be the leading causes of NNM cases in our study. Governmental and non-governmental employed mother (AOR = 3.05, 95% CI: 1.46–6.44) and Cesarean Section delivery (AOR = 1.89, (95% CI: 1.25–2.83)) were positively significantly associated with neonatal near miss. Whereas, pregnancy induced Hypertension (AOR = 0.43, 95%CI: 0.27–0.69) was negatively associated with neonatal near miss. CONCLUSION: This study revealed relatively high prevalence of NNM in the study areas. Employed women, pregnancy induced hypertension and cesarean section mode of delivery were found to be independent factors affecting the prevalence of NNM cases. Therefore, HUCSH and Adare general Hospitals should focus on proving quality antenatal care and prevention of occupational related problems among pregnant women. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12884-021-03601-2.