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Save the Children Experts to Speak at Landmark Global Maternal and Newborn Health Conference
Washington, DC (October 15, 2007) — Child and maternal health experts from Save the Children's Saving Newborn Lives program will participate in a panel discussion focused on postnatal care at the inaugural Women Deliver conference to be held in London, October 18-20. This first-of-its kind conference aims to prevent the needless deaths of 4 million newborns each year, and the 10 million women and girls who die in every generation during pregnancy and childbirth.
The conference — featuring delegates from more than 75 countries and more than 1,500 participants — will look at innovative and effective ways to save the lives and improve the health of women, mothers and newborn babies around the world. The theme of Women Deliver is Invest in Women - It Pays!
Experts speaking at the panel titled: Postnatal Care: a missing link to save the lives of women and newborns, include:
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Uzma Syed, Policy and Program Research Advisor, Save the Children, Saving Newborn Lives. Focus country:
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Neena Khadka, Health Team Leader, Save the Children, Saving Newborn Lives. Focus country:
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Evelyn Zimba, Program Manager, Save the Children, Saving Newborn Lives. Focus country:
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Rosemary Kamunya, Training Advisor, JHPEIGO. Focus country:
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Anne Tinker, Director of Saving Newborn Lives, Save the Children will serve as moderator.
Why is early postnatal care essential? The first few hours of a newborn's life are the most critical as it is during this time that millions of infants are most vulnerable to complications that lead to death. Two million newborn babies die on the day they are born each year. This is also the time that many women die — almost 40 percent of the world's half a million maternal deaths occur in the first week after delivery. Despite this high-risk period immediately after birth, postnatal care (PNC) has traditionally focused on a six-week "survival visit" for mother and baby. New evidence-based research now shows that immediate and early postnatal care can bring about a dramatic reduction in maternal and newborn mortality. The panelists will discuss successful implementation of early postnatal care packages in four countries — Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, and Malawi — on how early PNC was introduced to bridge gaps between maternal and child health programs to save the lives of mothers and their newborns.
Offering a home visit package in
Controlling neonatal sepsis in
Saving lives through Kangaroo Mother Care in Malawi: Between 60 to 90 percent of babies who die in Malawi are low birth weight or mostly preterm. Since a majority of these babies are born in health facilities, newborn health strategies in Malawi have focused on improving essential newborn care in these facilities and on providing Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) for all stable preterm babies. KMC is a low-tech, low-cost approach to keep the newborn warm by putting the baby skin to skin on mother's chest. Further innovations are being tested with an integrated maternal/newborn home visit package in three districts in Malawi.
Revitalizing Postnatal care in Kenya. In Kenya, only 42 percent of pregnant women deliver with a skilled birth attendant. A vast majority of women — almost 81 percent — deliver outside health facilities and a great number of them do not receive any postnatal care. There is an urgent need for all health facilities in Kenya to provide focused postnatal care that would meet the needs of both mothers and newborns. The presentation will focus on the design and implementation of a postnatal care package that is being tested in selected health facilities across the country. This package is composed of four home visits to a new mother and her baby by a trained health provider. Providers are trained in assessment of the mother and newborn and appropriate counseling and services, including family planning. The final operations research report including the results of this pilot project will be presented to stakeholders in Kenya for review and consideration as a best practice for sustaining, scaling up and replication.
