Epidemiological, Clinical and Health-Economic Burden of Neonatal and Perinatal Health in Morocco: Direct, Indirect and Intangible Costs, and Parental Psychological Impact a Structured Narrative Review

Abstract

Background: Neonatal and perinatal health in Morocco has, over the past decade, been addressed through several research efforts published separately, covering the epidemiology of neonatal infection, neonatal outcome, perinatal medicinal plant misuse, and the health-economic burden of maternal and child care. No synthesis had, until now, brought these findings into a single, cross-cutting perspective.

Objective: To provide a structured narrative synthesis of the epidemiological, clinical, toxicological and health-economic determinants of neonatal and perinatal health in Morocco, cross-referencing the research team's own publications with the international literature, without duplicating primary data already published or under separate review.

Methods: A structured narrative review was conducted around five predefined thematic axes, drawing on the team's publications (2020-2026) based on Moroccan cohorts (the national reference centre in Rabat, the regional unit of Dakhla, and oncology screening cohorts), complemented by a targeted PubMed search for each axis.

Results: The synthesis highlights the convergence of four categories of determinants — sociodemographic, biological/neonatal, behavioural (perinatal phytotherapy use) and organisational/economic — in the occurrence and severity of neonatal and perinatal conditions in Morocco. A detailed health-economic analysis, combining the team's own costed studies (cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination, Prevenar13 pharmacoeconomics, childhood poisoning micro-costing, generic medicines) with independent Moroccan and international cost-effectiveness studies, consistently shows that primary prevention strategies outperform curative care on economic grounds. International meta-analyses further show that 41-51% of parents of hospitalised neonates experience clinically significant anxiety, a dimension of intangible cost that remains unmonitored and unaddressed in Moroccan neonatal units, including the one in Dakhla whose hospital performance indicators and cost of care are the subject of a separate, complementary manuscript currently under review.

Conclusion: An integrated approach, combining clinical quality improvement, community health education on perinatal phytotherapy risks, and a deliberate budgetary prioritisation of primary prevention — including parental psychological support — appears necessary to durably reduce the neonatal and perinatal morbidity and mortality burden in Morocco.

Keywords: neonatal infection, perinatal health, health economics, cost of illness, parental psychological distress, Morocco.

Received Date: June 19, 2026

Accepted Date: July 10, 2026

Published Date: August 01, 2026

Available Online at: https://www.ijsrisjournal.com/index.php/ojsfiles/article/view/932