During the period from 7 Jan 2000 to 7 Jan 2001 an average of 6000 neonates were admitted to the neonatal unit. There were 145 congenital anomalies 41 (28%) of which involved the nervous system. Meningomyelocele was the commonest anomaly of the CNS with a total of 23 (58)% neonates seen. There were 3 meningoencephaloceles 2 of which were frontal. Anencephaly occurred in 2 and exencephaly in 1. Congenital hydrocephalus contributed 24.4% of all CNS anomalies. When the neural tube defects were considered alone (Table 2) meningomyelocele constituted 23 (74.2%) of 31 defects. Nine (22%) of the patients died in hospital.
Table 1. Frequency of Neural tube defects and Hydrocephalus at Muhimbili National Hospital n=41
