Kangaroo mother care toolkit

Welcome to the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) Tookit Resource Page. Each section includes relevant examples and materials with regards to the implementation and practice of Kangaroo Mother Care.

This set of resources has been compiled by Save the Children’s Saving Newborn Lives Program, the University of Pretoria and the South African Medical Research Council’s Maternal and Infant Healthcare Strategies Unit. To suggest additional resources for this collection, please email info@healthynewbornnetwork.org. Click here to go to the main KMC page.

Use the navigation menu below to skip to the section you would like to view:

• Visual Materials
• KMC Implementation
• KMC Training Materials
• KMC Practice
• KMC Monitoring and Evaluation
• Community KMC
• Miscellaneous 

KMC Posters

• Johnson and Johnson KMC Made Easy Poster – Gauteng province, South Africa
• KMC Made Easy – South African poster developed by the Medical Research Council Unit for Maternal and Infant Health Care Strategies, University of Pretoria & Kalafong Hospital
• Malawi Posters (Chewa)
• Tanzania Posters(Swahili)

PowerPoint Presentations

• KMC Introduction, Components and Benefits
• Overview of Evidence for Benefit of Facility KMC (J. Johnson)
• KMC in Malawi Overview Presentation (R. Ligowe)
• Scaling up KMC Overview Presentation (AM. Bergh)
• Intermittent KMC
• Neuro-endocrine Mechanisms in KMC (E. van Rooyen)
• KMC Evidence and Experiences (J. Lawn)
• Born Too Soon Presentation for Malawi

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Articles on Implementation

* Journal subscription required

• *Bergh AM, Pattinson RC. Development of a conceptual tool for the implementation of kangaroo mother care. Acta Paediatrica, 2003; 92:709-714
• *Bergh AM, Arsalo, Malan AF, Patrick M, Pattinson RC, Phillips N. Measuring implementation progress in kangaroo mother care. Acta Padiatrica, 2005; 94: 1102-1108
• *Pattinson RC, Arsalo I, Bergh A, Malan AF, Patrick M, Phillips N. Implementation of kangaroo mother care: A randomized trial of two outreach strategies. Acta Paediatrica, 2005; 94: 924-927
• Bergh A-M, Van Rooyen E, Pattinson RC. ‘On-site’ versus ‘off-site’ facilitation: a randomised trial of outreach strategies for scaling up kangaroo mother care. Human Resources for Health, 2008; 6:13.
• *Cattaneo A, Davanzo R, Uxa F, Tamburlini G. Recommendations for the implementation of Kangaroo Mother Care for low birthweight infants. Acta Paediatrica, 1998; 87(4): 440-445
• *Sylla M, Kassogue D, Traore I, Diall H, Charpak N, Dick-Traore F, N’diaye M, Djeneba D, Kamissoko F, Sidibe T, Keita M. Towards Better Care for Preterm Infants in Bamako, Mali. Current Women’s Health Reviews, 2011, 7, 302-309

See also Section G: Miscellaneous for link to online KMC bibliography

Articles and Resources

* Journal subscription required

• Bergman N, Introducing Kangaroo Mother Care. Pedmed; 1998 Sept/Oct: 9-10
• Blencowe H, Molyneux EM. Setting up kangaroo mother care at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre – a practical approach. Malawi Medical Journal 2005; 17(2): 39-42
• *Cattaneo A., Davanzo R, Bergman N, Charpak N. Kangaroo Mother Care in Low-income countries. Journal of Tropical Pediatrics, 1998; 44 (oct. 1998): 279-282.
• *Conde-Agudelo A, Belizán JM,Diaz-Rossello J. Kangaroo mother care to reduce morbidity and mortality in low birthweight infants. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD002771. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD002771.pub2.
• *Kirsten G, Bergman NJ, Hann FM. Kangaroo Mother Care in the nursery. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 2001; 48 (2) April 2001:443-452
• *Lawn JE, Mwansa-Kambafwile J, Horta BL, Barros FC, Cousens S. ‘Kangaroo mother care’ to prevent neonatal deaths due to preterm birth complications. International Journal of Epidemiology 2010:i1–i10.
• *Moore ER, Anderson GC, Bergman N. Early skin-to-skin contact for mothers and their healthy newborn infants. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007(3): CD003519.
• *Pattinson RC, Bergh AM, Malan AF, Prinsloo R. Does kangaroo mother care save lives? Journal of Tropical Pediatrics 2006; 52(6):438-441.
• Ruiz-Pelaez JG, Charpak N, Cuervo LG. Kangaroo Mother Care, an example to follow from developing countries. BMJ 2004;329(7475):1179-81.
• Van Rooyen E, Pullen AE, Pattinson RC, Delport SD. The value of the kangaroo mother care unit at Kalafong Hospital. Geneeskunde/The Medical Journal, 2002; April: 6-10
• World Health Organization. Thermal Protection of the Newborn: a practical guide. Geneva: World Health Organization. Maternal and Newborn Health / Safe Motherhood Unit. 1997.
• Armbruster D, Beck D, Goldman S, Long P. Care of the Newborn Training Guide. Save the Children, 2005.
• Beck D, Ganges F, Goldman S, Long P. Care of the Newborn Reference Manual. Save the Children, 2004.
• Beck D, Ganges F, Goldman S, Long P. Care of the Newborn Reference Manual. Save the Children, 2004. (French)
• Beck D, Ganges F, Goldman S, Long P. Care of the Newborn Reference Manual. Save the Children, 2004. (Portuguese)
• Bergh AM, Charpak N, Ezeonodo A, Udani R, van Rooyen E for the Working Group for Education and Training in Kangaroo Mother Care. Education and training in the implementation of kangaroo mother care. SAJCH May 2012 Vol. 6 No. 2, 38-45.

See also Section G: Miscellaneous for link to online KMC bibliography

KMC Curriculum Options

• Half day curriculum
• 1 day curriculum
• 2 day curriculum

Training Manuals

• World Health Organization. Kangaroo mother care: a practical guide. Geneva: World Health Organization, Department of Reproductive Health and Research; 2003.
• Woods DL, Principles of Kangaroo Mother Care unit 43 in Woods DL (ed) Mother and baby friendly care, Cape Town: Perinatal Education Programme; 2005.
• Woods DL, Practice of Kangaroo Mother Care unit 44 in Woods DL (ed) Mother and baby friendly care, Cape Town: Perinatal Education Programme; 2005.
• Save the Children. Malawi Kangaroo mother care training manual. Lilongwe; 2005.
• National Neonatology Forum of India. Kangaroo Mother Care Guide; 2005.
• National Neonatology Forum of India. Kangaroo Mother Care Teaching Aids; 2005.
• Save the Children, ACCESS. Kangaroo Mother Care Training Manual; 2006. (French)
• Save the Children, ACCESS. KMC Training Guide Nepal; 2007.
• Ministry of Health, Government of Tanzania. Kangaroo Mother Care Training Manual: Facilitator’s Guide; 2008.
• Ministry of Health, Government of Tanzania. Kangaroo Mother Care Training Manual for Participants; 2008.
• Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health, ACCESS. Kangaroo Mother Care Training Manual; 2008.
• Save the Children, ACCESS. Community Kangaroo Mother Care Training Guide, Bangladesh; Draft 2008.
• Ministry of Health, Mali. Kangaroo Mother Care Training Manual: Facilitator’s Guide; 2009. (French).
• Ministry of Health, Mali. Kangaroo Mother Care Training Manual for Participants; 2009. (French).
• Ministry of Health, Mozambique. Kangaroo Mother Care Training Manual; 2009. (Portuguese).
• World Health Organization. Essential Newborn Care Training File (5 modules). Geneva; 2010.

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Clinical Records

• Intermittent KMC chart example from Kalafong hospital, South Africa
• KMC daily notes used in the KMC unit at Kalafong hospital, South Africa
• KMC follow-up document from the WHO KMC practical guide
• KMC individual patient statistics form used in Kalafong hospital, South Africa
• Pre-discharge score sheet
• Pre-discharge score sheet – explanation of how to complete the sheet

Guidelines

• Malawi National KMC Guidelines, 2009
• Nepal National Guidelines for Care for Low Birth Weight Neonates, 2007
• South Africa Policy and Guidelines for KMC in the Western Cape province, South Africa
• Tanzania National KMC Guidelines, 2010
• South Africa KMC guidelines at Kalafong hospital (folder)
• Guidelines for doctors working in the KMC unit
• Guidelines for nurses working in the KMC unit
• Instructions to nurses working in the KMC unit
• Guidelines for the ward clerk
• Guidelines for mothers admitted to the KMC unit
• Feeding guidelines
• Guidelines to manage the electronic scale
• Admission and discharge guidelines

Standing Orders

• ROP eye drops standing order from Kalafong hospital
• Oxygen therapy standing order from Kalafong hospital

Job Aids

• Outreach Counselling Cards From Malawi 
• Checklist for discharge from the KMC unit from Kalafong Hospital, South Africa
• Feeding guide for low birth weight infants from Kalafong Hospital, South Africa
• Feeding guide from the Managing Newborn Problems WHO guide
• How to express breastmilk visual guide
• How to feed expressed breastmilk visual guide
• How to hand express breastmilk visual guide
• Why express breastmilk visual guide
• How to identify the low birth weight baby from the Malawi KMC training manual
• What to do with apnoea from the Malawi KMC training manual
• What to do in case of a newborn death from ACCESS KMC training manual
• KMC information brochure for mothers from Kalafong Hospital, South Africa
• KMC information brochure for mothers from Bangladesh
• Guide to cup feeding procedures
• Jaundice management guide
• AFASS HIV feeding choice assessment guide
• Nursing daily observations and monitoring
• Early communication intervention
• KMC positioning during transport
• Yezingane Network and Unicef. Frequently Asked Questions about breastfeeding in the context of HIV. South Africa, 2010.

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KMC Workbook: Bergh A-M. Implementation workbook for kangaroo mother care. Pretoria: MRC Research Unit for Maternal and Infant Health Care Strategies; 2002

• a. KMC workbook – parts 2 & 3 (section 2.4) – Word and PDF format
• b. KMC workbook – part 4 (section 4.32) – Word and PDF format

KMC Register and Summary Tools

• Kangaroo Mother Care Progress-Monitoring Tool (Version 7.0) 2021
• Electronic ambulatory KMC register
• Electronic KMC register
• Monthly report of KMC follow up visits
• Monthly KMC summary report
• Saving Newborn Lives. Monitoring indicators, 2010.
• MCHIP KMC performance standards checklist, 2010.
• Tanzania Supervision checklist, 2010.

Others

*Journal subscription required

• *Bergh AM, Arsalo, Malan AF, Patrick M, Pattinson RC, Phillips N. Measuring implementation progress in kangaroo mother care. Acta Paediatrica, 2005; 94: 1102-1108
• Malawi KMC assessment report, 2007.
• Nepal, Kanchanpur District Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, ACCESS LBW Project. 2006.

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*Journal subscription required

• Community-Based Care for Low Birth Weight Newborns: The Role of Community Skin-to Skin Care. Report of a meeting. May 2008.
• Bangladesh Community KMC Manual, Draft 2008.
• Malawi Community KMC training module.
• Sloan et al, Generic community KMC training manual for adaptation, Draft 2007.
• *Sloan NL, Ahmed S, Mitra SN, et al. Community-based kangaroo mother care to prevent neonatal and infant mortality: a randomized, controlled cluster trial. Pediatrics 2008;121:e1047-59.
• *Ahmed S, Mitra SN, Chowdhury SMR, Camacho LL, Winikoff B, Sloan NL. Community Kangaroo Mother Care: implementation and potential for neonatal survival and health in very low-income settings. JPer 2011;31,361–367; doi:10.1038/jp.2010.131.
• *V. Kumar, S. Mohanty, A. Kumar, et al. Effect of community-based behaviour change management on neonatal mortality in Shivgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India: a cluster-randomised controlled trial. The Lancet (September, 2008).

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• Kangaroo Mother Care Internet links, 2011
• KMC wraps example and pattern – Kalafong KMC thari (wrap) method of tying the wrap, illustrated with photos and the pattern for the wrap
• References of KMC articles – WHO International Network of Kangaroo Care Bibliography
• Permissions for use of documents on this CD

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