Newborns Vietnam is a UK registered charity dedicated to reducing neonatal mortality and advancing neonatal care in South East Asia, with a specific focus on Vietnam. Newborns Vietnam has its roots in an informal global partnership initiated in 2008 by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Da Nang Department of Health & the Department of Pediatrics at Da Nang General Hospital, and a number of NGOs working in Vietnam on child healthcare issues. The successful work undertaken by this partnership showed that it would be beneficial if there was an initiative specifically targeting the improvement of maternal health and reduction of newborn mortality in central Vietnam, and it was this that led to the setting up of Newborns Vietnam.
What we do
Our approach is to build on existing systems rather than creating parallel services, to create relationships of mutual trust and respect and through direct long-term partnerships with local public health providers, encourage and support their efforts to integrate maternal and newborn care into their health systems. Our primary focus is to strengthen the capacity of existing or new neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and provide the support required to develop local guidelines and protocols for neonatal care that are affordable and will provide a solid foundation for improved care. Central to this, is the need to tackle the critical shortage of health workers, there are too few doctors and nurses who are appropriately trained in neonatal care. We believe that investment in neonatal nurse training is essential if we are to achieve a sustainable advancement in neonatal care.