Patricia Coffey, Senior Program Officer at PATH talks about the scale-up chlorhexidine for umbilical cord care to save hundreds of thousands of newborn lives around the world. Almost half of all newborn deaths in developing countries are from Infections. Randomized controlled trials have been performed in several countries and the results have shown significant decreases in newborn mortality as a result of chlorhexidine’s use to stop infections from starting.
The Chlorhexidine Working Group, of which PATH is the secretariat, is an international collaboration of organizations committed to advancing the use of 7.1% chlorhexidine digluconate (delivering 4% chlorhexidine) for umbilical cord care through advocacy and technical assistance.