By Celina de Sola, co-founder and vice president of programs at Glasswing International
“It was difficult,” describes Francisca Arania, a nurse in San Salvador. Last November, she was called to assist the home delivery of a 17-year-old mother who was turned away from the hospital when doctors told her she wasn’t going into labor. “The baby turned purple,” she explained. “I had to improvise in order to stabilize him. I was scared. I didn’t know what to do.”
This situation is not uncommon. In Latin America, about 117,000 newborns each year do not survive their first month of life. Birth asphyxia — when a baby does not get enough oxygen before, during or right after birth — is a leading cause of newborn deaths, especially in areas where access to healthcare is scarce. Often preventable, birth asphyxia can result in death when an attending healthcare professional is nervous or does not know how to stimulate breathing during “the golden minute” — that first crucial minute of a baby’s life.
Helping Babies Breathe, a low-cost, evidence-based training program, is preparing health workers like Nurse Arania, among others, to better identify and prevent birth asphyxia. Backed by Johnson & Johnson, this training provides easy-to-learn skills and techniques that equip healthcare workers with the skillset to resuscitate over 90 percent of babies born with birth asphyxia.
In partnership with Glasswing International, a non-profit that specializes in health and education, Helping Babies Breathe was piloted in El Salvador and Guatemala and offered directly to local healthcare providers. To date, the program has successfully trained more than 1,050 local healthcare providers, including doctors, nurses, first responders, police officers, caregivers, and Ministry of Health personnel across both countries.
Glasswing’s community-based approach for this curriculum is the precise reason this program is thriving while raising awareness and fostering discussion on neonatal deaths in the region. This is the first time a program is bringing together such a diverse group of people from local doctors, to nurses, first responders and others to share their experiences addressing birth asphyxia both inside and outside the hospital.
During the training, participants are also encouraged to work in teams. This is helping to break down professional divides and foster a culture of openness and shared learning. Equally important, directly training local healthcare providers ensures program sustainability. Participants can take their newfound knowledge back to their communities, allowing them to use, share, and teach these skills to others. Each additional trainee bringing us one step closer to achieving the United Nations’ third Sustainable Development Goal to reduce newborn deaths.
After the course, Nurse Arania proudly stated that she now “knows exactly what to do.” Putting her skills to the test, she has since assisted several successful births. Together, Glasswing International and Johnson & Johnson are making sure that the most vulnerable babies in Latin America have a greater chance of surviving their first days of life.
About the Author
Celina de Sola is co-founder and vice president of programs at Glasswing International, an innovative nonprofit that addresses the root causes of poverty and violence through public education, health, and community development. Prior, Celina was a humanitarian aid worker, leading responses in over 20 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America & Caribbean. She is an Ashoka Fellow, LEGO ReImagine Learning Fellow, and Schwartz Social Impact Fellow.