This population-based study aimed to determine the profile of early neonatal deaths in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, from 2000 to 2003. Profiles were analyzed from the perspective of avoidability, justified by persistently high early neonatal mortality rates in the city. Three profiles were generated for multiple causes of death from the perspective of fuzzy sets, using the Grade of Membership method. Birth weight and the hospital's corporate status were also related to the three profiles. Private hospitals were characterized by so-called "difficult-to-prevent deaths, with mention of congenital malformations" (profile 2). The Unified National Health System (SUS) generated two distinct profiles. Private maternity facilities contracted out by the SUS showed "preventable deaths" (profile 1), while "premature deaths" (profile 3) occurred in the public Federal and State maternity hospitals. This typology highlights the need to adopt differential policies in the SUS, focusing on evaluation and accreditation for maternity facilities contracted out by the SUS and - for the system as a whole - on the routine adoption of protocols for childbirth care and prophylactic measures that are known to reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality.
Infant Mortality; Early Neonatal Mortality; Multiple Causes of Death
