To end preventable newborn and child deaths, care for small and sick newborns requires:

• High coverage of quality neonatal services, with family-centered models of care, organized in a network of facilities with a functional referral system
• Sufficient numbers of health-care providers with skills to care for small and sick newborns, working in partnership with parents and families
• Reaching marginalized populations

An example from Burkina Faso showed how a neonatal unit improved care practice through a reorganization of the unit, better infrastructure, and training of staff.  NEST 360 presented the Target Product Profiles that they have developed with UNICEF to support the care of newborns in hospitals in low-resource settings.

See also: session 2 of this webinar, on 3 June at 1o am CEST

This is the third webinar in a series on ‘Transforming care for small and sick newborns’, organized by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, in collaboration with the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

See the topics and dates of the whole series

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Summary
 

Newborns are the most vulnerable when health systems are stretched. With only 10 years to meet the SDGs, and the COVID-19 pandemic threatening to lose hard-won gains, we need to act fast to transform care for the most vulnerable.

Improving care for newborns does not only drive down mortality and disability; it also leads to improved health during the lifecourse, and improved human capital.

More data is needed on coverage, equity and quality of care to drive more rapid change.

An example from the Eastern Mediterranean region showed how data was used to address congenital conditions. The experience from Latin America and the Caribbean demonstrated the importance of collecting and analyzing data to grasp the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity (RoP) as a leading cause of blindness.

Q&As covered topics such as the type of research that would be most useful now to improve care for newborns, public health strategies to prevent congenital conditions, the integration of R0P guidance into existing newborn care protocols and guidance,  and guidance on caring for a mother and a newborn in the time of COVID-19.

Presenters:

• Prof. Joy Lawn presented key findings of ‘What the numbers say’, the second chapter in the Survive and Thrive: transforming care for every small and sick newborn report.
• Prof. Khalid Yunis presented the Eastern Mediterranean experience.
• Prof. Pablo Duran talked about retinopathy of prematurity in the LAC region.
• Dr. Ornella Lincetto presented current data on COVID-19 in pregnant women and newborns.

The session was facilitated by Dr. Gagan Gupta, Health Specialist, Maternal and Newborn Health, UNICEF.

See also: session 1 of this webinar, on 20 May at  10 am  CEST

This is the second webinar in a series on Transforming care for small and sick newborns, organized by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, in collaboration with the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

See the topics and dates of the whole series

Photo: ©UNICEF/UNI259335/van Orsouw

PRESENTATIONS ARE POSTED IN THE RIGHT HAND MENU

Summary

Newborns are the most vulnerable when health systems are stretched. With only 10 years to meet the SDGs, and the COVID-19 pandemic threatening to lose hard-won gains, we need to act fast to transform care for the most vulnerable.

Improving care for newborns does not only drive down mortality and disability; it also leads to improved health during the lifecourse, and improved human capital.

More data is needed on coverage, equity and quality of care to drive more rapid change.

An example from Nepal looks at progress for neonatal survival through an equity lens.  The experience of a neonatal unit in Gambia points to recommendations to address a high rate of hospital acquired infections and improve quality of care for newborns.

Questions spanned a wide array of topics such as the difficulty to adopt quality of care indicators as part of routine data collection, the need to boost investments to stem neonatal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa, treatment of neonatal sepsis or bacteraemia, and guidance to care for a newborn born to a COVID-19+ mother.

Presenters

• Prof. Joy Lawn presented key findings of ‘What the numbers say’ , the second chapter in the Survive and Thrive: transforming care for every small and sick newborn report.
• Dr. Ashish K.C shared the Nepal example.
• Dr. Uduak Okomo shared the experience from a neonatal unit in The Gambia.
• Dr. Ornella Lincetto presented current data on COVID-19 in pregnant women and newborns.

The session was facilitated by Dr. Ornella Lincetto, Senior Medical Officer for Newborn Health, World Health Organization.

See also session 2 of this webinar, on 20 May at 1 pm CEST 

This is the 2nd webinar in a series organized by the World Health Organization and UNICEF on Transforming Care for Small and Sick Newborns, in collaboration with the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. Experts on neonatal health will present the findings of the Survive and Thrive: transforming care for every small and sick newborn report, share country experiences, and introduce the World Health Organization's new standards of care for small and sick newborns. 

See the whole series.

Photo:©UNICEF/UNI288585/Frank Dejo

All presentations are available on the right-hand menu.

Expanding provision of care to all newborns, including the most vulnerable ones, is imperative to make progress towards the goal of ending preventable newborn deaths by 2030.  The webinar presented how people-centered care can offer lessons on how to transform care for small and sick newborns. It also presented the powerful role that parents can play to improve care of their vulnerable newborns.

Dr. Lily Kak presented the key findings of the 1st chapter ‘Now is the time to transform care for Newborns’ of the Survive and Thrive: transforming care for every small and sick newborn report, which highlights these key points:

• Meeting global targets for the survival of newborns and children aged under 5 years requires adding special and intensive levels of care to well-established obstetric and essential newborn health services.
• Every newborn has the right to survive and thrive.
• Family-centred care offers proven benefits for newborns, as well as for parents, families and health workers.
• Lessons from the past inform priorities for our future.

Silke Mader talked about strategies for integrated people-centered health services, and what this means when caring for small and sick newborns. She explained the potential of parents in advising inpatient newborn care units on improving care for those vulnerable newborns. She also shared her personal story as a parent of children born too soon.

Dr. Ornella Lincetto put the provision of services for small and sick newborns in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic.  She explained that these services remain core essential services during the pandemic and presented some of the guidance on Covid-19 and newborn health.

The presentations were followed by a Q&A session, with questions about the link between parent-centered care and quality of care, the challenges of having parents in overcrowded, understaffed NICUs, the  difficulty of caring for small and sick newborns in facilities that lack proper WASH infrastructure, the training of neonatal nurses on intensive care, and more.

This is the first webinar in a series on Transforming care for newborns, organized by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, in collaboration with the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

See the topics and dates of the whole series

All presentations are available on the right-hand menu.

Expanding provision of care to all newborns, including the most vulnerable ones, is imperative to make progress towards the goal of ending preventable newborn deaths by 2030.  The webinar presented how people-centered care for small and sick newborns and the experience of India in caring for newborns offer lessons on how to transform care for small and sick newborns.

Mary Kinney  presented the key findings of the 1st chapter ‘Now is the time to transform care for Newborns’ of the Survive and Thrive: transforming care for every small and sick newborn report, which highlights these key points:

• Meeting global targets for the survival of newborns and children aged under 5 years requires adding special and intensive levels of care to well-established obstetric and essential newborn health services.
• Every newborn has the right to survive and thrive.
• Family-centred care offers proven benefits for newborns, as well as for parents, families and health workers.
• Lessons from the past inform priorities for our future.

Dr. Ajay Khera explained India’s experience in transforming care for newborns, at both facility level and in a family setting, and shared lessons on what it requires:

• Political commitment and investment of domestic resources
• Facility-based newborn care at district level through capacity building/ mentoring support through institutional collaboration
• SNCU Online to help in evidence-based program management
• Engaging families in care of sick newborn
• Home-based visits as a game changer for improving newborn rearing practices

Dr. Ornella Lincetto put the provision of services for small and sick newborns in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic.  She explained that these services remain core essential services during the pandemic and presented some of the guidance on Covid-19 and newborn health.

The presentations were followed by a Q&A session, with questions spanning a range of topics such as the feasibility of starting online SNCU System in level 3 NICUs in India,  whether quality improvement in SNCUS will be incorporated in the LaQshya initiative, the threats and opportunities presented by the COVID19 outbreak in caring for small and sick newborns, and the obstacles to providing special and intensive levels of care for vulnerable newborns.

See also a new operational guidance for South and South-East Asia and the Pacific Regions on continuing essential sexual, reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health services during COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the first webinar in a series on Transforming care for newborns, organized by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, in collaboration with the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

See the topics and dates of the whole series