Developing a Newborn Care Field Guide

Location:

Introduction:

Relatively poor newborn outcomes persist in areas affected by conflict or political instability. Recognizing this need, Save the Children and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) led an interagency effort to develop the Newborn Health in Humanitarian Settings Field Guide (Field Guide). Save the Children, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, UNICEFUnited Nations Children’s Fund, International Medical Corps (IMC) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention piloted implementation of the Field Guide in South Sudan. South Sudan is the world’s newest country following decades of civil war with a high number of internally displaced people and refugees due to renewed conflict internally and within surrounding countries. The long history of conflict has resulted in a limited health workforce and poor medical supply chains and infrastructure.

The baseline study objectives:

1. What factors influence the implementation of the Field Guide among International Medical Corps health workers and program staff at the community and health facility level?
2. What are health worker attitudes toward the adoption of newborn practices?
3. What is the association between the intervention and changes in newborn care practices at baseline and 5 months post intervention?

Project Description:

The project was implemented through international non-governmental organization-run sites at the community, health center, and hospital levels in refugee and internally displaced camp settings. Key intervention areas were provision of newborn care supplies, training of community and facility health workers, and supervision and training of program managers. Cross-cutting areas included ensuring data quality and behavior change and communication.

Results:

Baseline and endline assessments were conducted using a mixed-methods approach. Results indicate improvements in knowledge and practices for community and facility health workers as well as knowledge and care-seeking behavior by mothers.

Lessons Learned:

This project revealed that:

1. Provision of quality newborn care services is feasible;
2. Positive attitudes among the health workers towards the importance of newborn care practices exist;
3. Newborn-specific medicines and supplies are often lacking; and
4. Low knowledge among mothers and community and facility health workers on newborn danger signs and key practices exists.