Effective Community-Based Newborn Health Programs Need a Coordinated Global Strategy
Last week, Dr. Elvira Beracochea, President and CEO of RGH, moderated a day of panels and activities as part of the Community-Based Primary Health Care Working group (CBPHC) at the American Public Health Association’s 16th Annual Pre-Conference CBPHC Workshop. The goal of the CBPHC workshop was to share effective Newborn Healthcare Delivery programs and services to help current and future CBPHC practitioners advance in their practice and improve the effectiveness of their CBPHC programs.
The attendees at the workshop discussed best practices being implemented in the field, but noted that unfortunately there not enough of these successful programs are being scaled up. For example, basic resuscitation skills taught in the initiative helping babies breathe are not being communicated to all birth attendants and therefore many are still not aware of these best practices.
Other special programs to prevent pregnancies and teen parents are other simple ways of reaching out but are not being scaled up. Despite all the initiatives, there is not a coordinated global strategy to address these issues. Some recommendations to address these issues will be included in a report expected sometime in February and will be written by the co-chair Dr. Laura Parajon.
For more information about APHA’s Global Health activities, visit APHA’s website.
