Success Story - Kangaroo Mother Care Two mothers in Malawi practice Kangaroo Mother Care, a program aimed at protecting at-risk newborns from hypothermia. The kangaroo as a role model for mothers? Watch Video of Kangaroo Mother Care in Malawi Many women in the southern African country of Malawi might have laughed at the idea, until recently, when Save the Children began promoting a new program called Kangaroo Mother Care, a simple, effective way for mothers to help their newborn babies survive the first critical days of life. The need is dramatic in Malawi, where too few mothers have access to skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth, 20 percent of all newborns are born with low birth weight, and more than 20,000 mothers each year bear the tragedy of their newborn babies dying. Encouraging new mothers to practice “skin-to-skin” contact with their newborns—like a kangaroo mother keeps her baby in her pouch— Kangaroo Mother Care has already helped save lives among newborns in Malawi, especially among low birth weight and pre-term babies. Kangaroo Mother Care was designed to reduce hypothermia—a drop in body temperature which poses a serious risk to newborns even in the warmest climates. When a baby is born, its temperature drops because babies are born wet and room temperature air is cold on their skin. Hypothermia can set in quickly unless steps are taken to warm the baby. The Kangaroo Mother Care program shows mothers how to keep their newborns warm with continuous skin-to-skin contact. By keeping mother and newborn together, Kangaroo Mother Care also encourages mother and child to bond emotionally and enables the baby to breastfeed at will, giving the baby the energy to produce its own body heat. In many cases, the program reduces the need for incubators, which are prohibitively expensive in developing countries. As the Kangaroo Mother Care expands in Malawi, Save the Children is also adopting the program for use in other countries where newborn deaths are staggeringly high, including India and Bangladesh. Newborns have the highest risk of death among all children. Worldwide each year, four million babies die before they reach one month of age, which represents 40 percent of all deaths of children under five. Nearly all newborn deaths occur in developing countries. Many of these deaths could be prevented by providing appropriate care for pregnant women as well as timely, low-cost interventions such as preventing and treating infections, encouraging immediate and exclusive breast-feeding and keeping newborns warm and dry. Learn more... Donate to the Health Innovation Fund and help us save more lives with simple, affordable solutions.