Developing community-based intervention strategies and package to save newborns in Nepal

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Neonatal Health
• Health Policy

Background:

• Increasing proportion of neonatal deaths in Nepal.
• Maternal and child survival programs inadequately addressed newborn health.
• Growing attention to newborn deaths led to national strategy.

Purpose of the Study:

• Describe the development of Nepal's Community-Based Newborn Care Package (CB-NCP).
• Outline key elements for successful newborn health programming.
• Highlight the use of research and policy in program development.

Main Methods:

• Formed a technical working group to review evidence and prioritize interventions.
• Conducted program learning visits to identify context-appropriate components.
• Identified interventions based on impact, health system feasibility, and existing program linkages.

Main Results:

• Nepal adopted a national strategy to reduce neonatal deaths.
• Endorsed a package of neonatal interventions for pilot testing and scale-up.
• Developed the CB-NCP for integration with existing community-based health systems.

Conclusions:

• Nepal is a pioneer in national neonatal health strategy and intervention packages.
• CB-NCP development involved multi-stakeholder collaboration and evidence-based planning.
• Pilot programs demonstrated effective delivery and scale-up of newborn health interventions.