Laerdal Global Health (LGH) is committed to reducing the staggering rates of newborn morbidity and mortality in low resource settings through hands on, simulation-based training, highly affordably tools, locally owned implementation and broad endorsement.
Helping Babies Breathe, developed by AAP in collaboration with Laerdal Global Health and launched in 2009, has saved thousands of asphyxiated newborns. Since its success, two new programs focusing on the essential care for every baby and the essential care for small babies have been developed under the Helping Babies Survive umbrella. Within this framework and in close collaboration with experts and implementing partners, LGH has been exploring training tools and solutions to help babies grow.
A crucial element in the care of all babies includes providing breast milk and skin-to-skin contact within the first hour of birth. These two steps have enormous life-saving potential, however small babies need extra support both for feeding and keeping warm, due to their increased vulnerability.
The following webinar was presented at the Breastfeeding Innovations Group in June 2016, which detailed the exploration and the process LGH used to determine the gaps in a mother and small baby’s feeding and growth journey. After iterative prototyping, user testing, initiating design collaboration with PATH and collaborating with other partners, Laerdal Global Health presents a bundle of care called Helping Babies Grow that facilitates the transition from birth to feeding exclusively from the breast.