A key component of program activities within the Saving Newborn Lives (SNL) program (Save the Children) and the Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP) was the collaboration with governments, development partners and health professionals to systematically introduce and promote scale up of facility-based kangaroo mother care. SNL and MCHIP have engaged government and development partners to initiate KMC services in at least 134 facilities with over 1300 health workers trained across 20 countries (Save the Children, 2011). KMC appears to be a successful example of catalytic program inputs from SNL and MCHIP resulting in wide-scale behaviour change and implementation.
This report forms part of an evaluation of the implementation of KMC as method of newborn care and the provision of KMC services in four countries in Africa, namely Malawi, Mali, Rwanda and Uganda. It is envisaged that the results of this evaluation will help with advocacy for improved service delivery and management of newborn care, the improvement of monitoring and evaluation of KMC activities, influencing policy change, increased scale-up efforts, and adding to ethe global evidence and knowledge base for KMC.