Donated Human Milk: A Lifesaving Option for Vulnerable Infants

County Innovation Challenge Fund Kenya HNN Team

Kenya loses an estimated 39 infants for every 1000 live births, translating to over 50,000 babies who die before their first birthday each year. More than half of these deaths occur in the neonatal period – the first month of life – most often due to complications related to prematurity and low birth weight[1]. Essential … Continued

For preterm infants, skin-to-skin contact affects hormone levels — and may promote parental engagement

Science Daily HNN Team

For premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), skin-to-skin contact with parents influences levels of hormones related to mother-infant attachment (oxytocin) and stress (cortisol) — and may increase parents’ level of engagement with their infants, reports a study in Advances in Neonatal Care, official journal of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses. Promoting … Continued

Inside a Neonatal Clinic in South Sudan: ‘In Some Ways, It Felt Wrong to Be Here’

New York Times South Sudan HNN Team

JUBA, South Sudan — We noticed the quiet first. As we removed our dirt-caked sneakers, slipped on flip flops and entered the nursery in Juba Teaching Hospital’s newborn ward, a hushed tension washed over us. A bulb flickered relentlessly above the dozen or so newborns in the room. Many of the babies here weighed less … Continued

Born Too Soon in a Country at War. Their Only Hope? This Clinic.

New York Times South Sudan HNN Team

This baby girl has stopped breathing. She was born prematurely and is only 3 weeks old. Her mother, Restina Boniface, took her to the only public neonatal clinic in South Sudan. The country is one of the toughest places in the world for newborns with health problems to survive. Ten feet away sits a donated … Continued

Dying babies and no doctors: A look inside a Yemeni hospital

Yemen HNN Team

When Kenan was born four months premature, there were no doctors at al-Sadaqa Hospital to care for him. So his grandmothers tried to save him. They placed the infant in an incubator, but it was broken. They tried a second one. It wouldn’t heat up. It had been 24 hours since a doctor had last … Continued

Health workers saving preterms with simple interventions

New Vision Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda HNN Team

A 0.6kg newborn lies peacefully in an incubator at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital. After a routine check from the midwife on duty, all seems well. “It is in good state. I am certain we are going to save this one too,” says the midwife, with fulfilment written on her face. Preterm birth complications according to … Continued

2 million Chinese mothers carry strep bacteria that can be fatal to newborns, study finds

South China Morning Post China, India HNN Team

Nearly 2 million pregnant women in China are estimated to be carrying a strain of bacteria that can cause severe health problems or even prove fatal to newborn babies, according to an international study. The figure represents about 11 per cent of total annual births in China, and puts the country second globally in the … Continued

How Mbale Regional Hospital reduced newborn mortality from 52 to 11% in under 3 years

Makarere University Centre of Excellence for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health Uganda HNN Team

Ms Barbara Auma (right) of Tororo would now be in her final two weeks of pregnancy but her baby came almost three months earlier, writes Kakaire Ayub Kirunda. Prior to her ‘delivery’ Barbara bled for two days and the attending doctor had already written off the viability of the pregnancy outcome, documenting it as an abortion. … Continued

The simple acts of care that could help premature babies develop

HNN Team

Can the most basic nurturing techniques help heal the traumas of premature birth? Leaving the womb too early puts babies at a higher risk for emotional, behavioral and developmental challenges later in life. William Brangham reports on one research effort in New York aimed at minimizing those impacts by strengthening the emotional connection between mother … Continued

The Tiny Bracelet That Saves Newborns from Hypothermia

The Development Set India HNN Team

 A new battery-powered device beeps when a premature baby’s temperature drops, alerting parents to care for them “Low birth weight newborns need special care and attention because they can easily become hypothermic,” said neonatologist Dr. Jagadish Somanna, a research associate at IGICH. Hypothermia is a condition where a baby’s core temperature falls below 36.5 C … Continued