On November 17, 2016, Nigeria marked World Prematurity Day with the release of the Nigeria Every Newborn Action Plan (NiENAP). This document, the culmination of more than two years of work, began with a systematic analysis of bottlenecks and solutions for newborn health and countless hours of discussions around priority areas with policymakers at all levels of government, technical experts, civil society, and donors.
The NiENAP lays out a vision and a plan for Nigeria to end preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths, accelerate progress, and scale up high-impact, cost-effective interventions. The NiENAP is a concerted effort towards translating commitments into meaningful change for newborns. It will serve as a framework for Nigeria’s 36 states to develop their own area-specific action plans.
Guided by the principles of country leadership, integration, accountability, equity, human rights, innovation, and research, the NiENAP presents a set of intervention packages aligned with the 10 key areas of the National Health Policy 2017–2021. The intervention packages follow a four-pronged approach of
- promotion of facility-based deliveries at scale addressing equity issues,
- strengthening of community-based interventions,
- strengthening of facility readiness for providing quality care for the newborn, and
- provision of quality care for the newborn with focus on labour, birth, and immediate care after birth during the first week of life.
Priority activities for newborn health align with the 10 key areas of the Nigerian National Health Policy 2017-2021.
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