Nearly 20 out of 100000 newborn babies in South Africa are killed, according to a new study.The study found that a baby was most likely to be killed in the first 24 hours after birth. Most of the babies were less than a week old, and the leading cause of death was abandonment.According to StatsSA, more than a million babies are born in South Africa each year.The study used records from 2009 from mortuaries across the country. Its sample included urban and rural settings, and was a continuation of a larger study on mortality.Researchers also contacted police officials investigating some of the cases.After abandonment, other causes of death were found to be from blunt trauma and strangulation. Mothers were the perpetrators in two-thirds of the deaths.However, the lead author in the study, Naeemah Abrahams, of the gender and health research unit at the SA Medical Research Council, said their findings were "conservative", as they had not included sudden infant death records in the study.Abrahams said her research showed health and social services had failed to protect babies and help vulnerable mothers."I think that there is so much more than just blaming the mother for this. Many don't know that they can give the baby up. We need to get this message across, as children don't need to die," she said.Abrahams said there was a need to create initiatives like baby boxes, in which unwanted infants could be left. Many expectant mothers, she said, were unable to access abortion clinics.Joan van Niekerk, a consultant on child protection, said the high levels of infanticide were a cause for concern. She agreed that more needed to be done to help vulnerable mothers."We need to ask why so many young women are abandoning their babies, and what supports are in place."Van Niekerk said more needed to be done to recognise vulnerable mothers in state maternity wards and that help must be given to them.Abrahams said she hoped to do a follow-up study of data that is five years older, to find out whether homicide rates had risen or fallen...