Newborn care is basic to safe motherhood

Each year nearly 13 million children die before they reach their fifth birthday. One third of them die during the first days of life, often because of poor care of the mother during pregnancy and delivery or because the newborn baby is not given the care it needs when it comes into the world. Newborn health is often overlooked in international health efforts, according to Dr. Tomris Turmen, director of WHO's Division of Family Health. "We cannot hope to achieve lower infant mortality rates in the developing world if we do not interview in the critical period when one-third of all child deaths occur," Dr. Turmen says. More than 65 million deliveries take place each year without any skilled assistance. In many cases the mother and baby are completely alone. Yet at least the bare minimum of health care at birth is "the right of every laboring woman and every infant struggling to be born," Dr. Turmen argues. Newborn care, she says, does not require sophisticated technology but rather "common sense and awareness of the problems with which an infant is confronted during the first weeks of life." Safe pregnancy and delivery benefit both mother and child. Safe motherhood means a package of health care for both mother and baby. The health care package benefits equally the pregnant woman and the newborn infant. Each element of the package can be modified to apply at the community level, at the health center, or at the first referral facility. The mother and baby health package is comprised of the following: before, during pregnancy--prenatal registration and care; recognition, early detection, and management of complications; good nutrition and rest; information and services for family planning; tetanus toxoid immunization; iron and folic acid for the mother; during delivery access to emergency care at health center, referral facilities; clean and safe (atraumatic) delivery; after delivery-clean cord cutting and care; keeping the baby warm and dry; establishing breathing, resuscitation; putting the baby to the breast immediately; preventing blindness; postpartum care for the mother.