Survive and thrive - the WHO take on transforming care for every small and sick newborn

I would just like to share a new document by the World Health Organization, WHO.

In a report that come out the other week, WHO present its key findings from an upcoming publication "Survive and thrive: transforming care for every small and sick newborn."

While we commonly think about neonatal care and preterm infants in high-resource settings, there is really a lot of public health work to be done when it comes to improve neonatal care in low-/mid-resource contexts. In fact, the world will not achieve the global target to achieve health for all unless it transforms care for every newborn.

What I specifically like is that this documents really acknowledge the power of family-based care.

To save newborns, the report recommends:

• Providing round-the-clock inpatient care for newborns
• Training nurses to provide hands-on care 
• Harnessing the power of parents and families
• Providing good quality of care
• Counting and tracking every small and sick newborn

Naturally, countries need to allocate the necessary resources. While we (in the rich world) may think that a LOT of money is needed, WHO estimates that an additional investment of US$ 0.20 cents per person can save 2 of every 3 newborns in low- and middle-income countries. IMHO, that's a small investment for the best of benefit.

Click here to find the report on the WHO web site.

And click here to find "Social media tiles" illustrating the key findings, which I also share below.