The Taj Mahal becomes first Indian monument with breastfeeding room

Thomson Reuters Foundation India HNN Admin

This story was originally published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation here. NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The Taj Mahal, built as a monument to a woman who died in childbirth, is set to get a baby feeding room in a first for India where conservative attitudes toward public breastfeeding mean nursing mothers are often … Continued

Rewriting Bungoma’s infant mortality story

Daily Nation (Kenya) Kenya HNN Admin

This article by Evans Ongwae originally appeared in Daily Nation (Kenya) here. Through a targeted collaborative newborn support project, Mount Kenya University (MKU) and its partners are rewriting Bungoma County’s infant mortality story. The sad tale of the county losing 32 newborns for every 1,000 live births, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey … Continued

First-Of-Its-Kind Development Impact Bond Launched in Cameroon to Save Newborn Babies

Grand Challenges Canada Cameroon HNN Admin

Photo Credit: Siegfried Modola / Save the Children Money will fund scale up of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) in Cameroon to help newborns survive and thrive; The Cameroon Kangaroo Mother Care Development Impact Bond (Cameroon KMC DIB) aims to reach more than 2,200 newborns with life-improving care; The investor, Grand Challenges Canada, will provide the … Continued

Kenya now eliminates maternal and neonatal tetanus

World Health Organization Kenya Kenya HNN Admin

Kenya has attained maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination status, MNTE, following a successful WHO-led validation process in 2018 to confirm the elimination of the disease. The process was preceded by a pre-validation assessment in September 2017 done by the Ministry of Health with the support of WHO and UNICEF. Elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus … Continued

Providing additional support to women in Burkina Faso can boost rates of exclusive breastfeeding

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Burkina Faso HNN Admin

Intervention potential route to improving child health in West Africa Interventions which educate and support new mothers in West Africa to exclusively breastfeed (where infants are only fed breast milk) can significantly increase the practice, according to new research published in The Lancet Global Health. In a randomised trial of new mothers in Burkina Faso, led … Continued

500 years after Leonardo da Vinci wondered why babies are born preterm, we still have no idea

Quartz HNN Admin

In one of his texts in his Trattato della Pittura (Treatise on Painting), Leonardo da Vinci set out to understand the functioning of the human body in order to be able to draw it correctly, from the inside out. Among the aspects da Vinci wanted to understand were “[w]hat forces [the fetus] out from the … Continued

Nigeria’s ‘Flying Midwives’ Are Helping Save Moms and Babies

Time Nigeria HNN Admin

By Aryn Baker | Photographs by Lynsey Addario for TIME February 7, 2019 In the small, whitewashed medical clinic of Banki, one of northeastern Nigeria’s largest camps for internally displaced people (IDP), midwife Stella Aneto takes a rare pause between deliveries to catch her breath. Before wiping down the clinic’s sole delivery bed with disinfectant, Aneto glances at the clinic … Continued

This doctor built a portable machine to save newborn babies from dying of jaundice across rural India

YourStory India HNN Admin

The first article on our #StartupBharat series shines the spotlight on innovations from Tier II and III cities and towns across India. This week, we feature Dr Kiran Kanthi of Lifetron Innov Equipments. The startup, incubated at Sandbox Startups in Hubli, Karnataka, has built a portable, affordable solution to treat jaundice in newborns. It has … Continued

A new lease of life: How Bempu’s innovative wristband is saving thousands of babies

The Economic Times India HNN Admin

India may have crossed many milestones on its way to arresting infant mortality rates, but there is still a long way to go. While the reasons may be many and varied, neonatal hypothermia is known to affect about one-third of children in India. “Children born with low birth weight – those under 2.5 kg – … Continued

Better birth: Labour Ward project improves a community health centre in India

M4ID India HNN Admin

In December, M4ID and partners inaugurated a new and enhanced Basta community health centre in Odisha, India. Final strokes of paint, last few screws tightened, new carpets rolled out, a final sweeping of the floors – and a hug! In December, product design lead Nicolas Flittner had an exciting trip to Balasore district in Odisha, … Continued