Saving Newborns in Vietnam

Vietnam

State of Vietnam's Newborns

Issues Influencing Newborn Health in Vietnam

Vietnam is poised to achieve most, if not all, of its Millennium Development Goals. Vietnam has already met the target of reducing the under-five mortality rate to 18 per 1,000 live births by 2015. The neonatal mortality rate in Vietnam, however, has stagnated, and 20,000 newborns still die each year.[i] One factor is poor access to newborn care in rural areas, where twice as many newborns die than in urban settings.

Save the Children's Current Newborn Health Activities in Vietnam

With support from Vietnam's Ministry of Health (MoH), Save the Children and its partners have initiated a five-year agreement to develop a National Action Plan for Child Survival, which includes a newborn care intervention package. The Action Plan will seek to update the National Standards and Guidelines for Reproductive Health and Newborn Care and finalize a universal Newborn Care Training Manual to be used country-wide. Partners signing the memorandum of understanding with Save the Children and the Ministry of Health include UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Ipas.

As a component of the five-year agreement, Save the Children's Saving Newborn Lives program will test and document a comprehensive package of essential newborn care (ENC) interventions, including management of newborn complications, in two districts of Thanh Hoa province. The intervention package is designed to increase the availability of newborn care supplies and services at health facilities. Demand for care will be increased by improving the quality of newborn care at health facilities through training and capacity building while also creating an enabling environment for newborn care through social mobilization. Monitoring and evaluation efforts will be improved through strengthening health management information systems.

Partnering for Newborns in Vietnam

Vietnam Ministry of Health
World Health Organization
UNICEF
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Ipas