Does task shifting among parts of a weak health system help?

In this issue of The Lancet Global Health, Sajid Soofi and colleagues assessed the effectiveness of adding neonatal bag and mask resuscitation and oral antibiotic therapy for suspected newborn infections to a basic preventive and promotive interventions package delivered by community-based lady health workers (LHWs) in rural Pakistan. When LHWs attended births they could successfully resuscitate neonates when necessary. But—and here is the crux—LHWs attended only 14% of all births and resuscitated just 4% of neonates who were reported to be not breathing after birth.