Saving Newborns in Ghana

Ghana

The State of Ghana's Newborns

Issues Influencing Newborn Health in Ghana

Ghana’s newborn mortality rate is among the ten highest in Africa, and each year an estimated 30,000 newborns die.[i] Two-thirds of these deaths could be prevented if packages of high-impact, evidence-based health service interventions reached all women and newborns in Ghana.[ii] Many of these interventions already exist in the health system but need sustained commitment to increase coverage and quality.

The increase in preventable deaths has brought newborn survival to the attention of the government in recent years and a number of strategies have been put in place to address deaths during the first month of life. Government health centers and private maternity homes provide basic maternal and child health services in Ghana, and the government recently began a program to provide care outside of health facilities through community-based health planning services (CHPS). CHPS places nurses and community health workers directly in villages to provide primary health care services, including basic antenatal and young infant care. A government-appointed national newborn steering committee also is in place to set priorities for improving newborn survival.

Save the Children’s Current Activities in Ghana

With the World Health Organization, Save the Children's Saving Newborn Lives program is supporting the Kintampo Health Research Center and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in collaboration with the Ministry of Health to develop a practical approach for improving newborn care in rural Ghana. The study, entitled The Impact of Routine Home Visits on Neonatal Mortality in Rural Ghana, began in 2007 and runs until 2010.

Specifically, the study focuses on training community health workers to identify pregnant women and conduct home visits during pregnancy and the first week after birth, with an emphasis on care seeking during the third trimester of pregnancy and childbirth, and essential newborn care. The study intervention will also address the supervisory and remuneration structures required to support the community health workers. Formative research has been conducted in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana as the first phase of the study. The research included a review of the current data available in the study area, and collection of additional qualitative and quantitative information to fill knowledge gaps relating to essential newborn care, behavior change and the scope of community health worker roles. The results have helped the study team select key newborn care practices that should be targeted in the home visits. The results also have helped create appropriate job aids and provide proper motivation and supervision to the community health workers.

Kangaroo Mother Care

Save the Children is working with the Ministry of Health and UNICEF to scale up Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) in Ghana. Specifically, Save the Children is supporting the set up Kangaroo Mother Care wards, training materials and national policy guidelines for KMC roll-out. Save the Children also is assisting in South-to-South learning by linking partners in Ghana with KMC experts and experiences in South Africa and Tanzania.

Partnering for Newborns

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Kintampo Health Research Center

UNICEF

WHO