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Around the world, birth is a joyous occasion. The arrival of a newborn who is small or sick, however, often results in immediate worry and sadness. According to the latest estimates, up to 30 million newborns require some level of inpatient care each year. This includes newborns with complications from prematurity, intrapartum brain injury, severe bacterial infection or pathological jaundice, and those with congenital conditions. Substantial human potential for lifelong health and well-being is lost through neonatal mortality, disability and long-term disease. Furthermore, family members of small and sick newborns are at high risk of long-term psychological and financial problems. These, in turn, can have additional detrimental effects on a newborn’s developmental, social and cognitive growth.
A collaborative effort with the World Health Organization, this report highlights the need for investment in quality inpatient newborn care, including designated specialized facilities. It also makes the case for accurate and reliable data to help shape policy and to measure the impacts of inpatient care on these vulnerable newborns.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India has made vital policy decisions to combat major causes of newborn deaths, with special attention to safe motherhood interventions, sick newborns, babies born too soon (premature/preterm), and babies born too small (small for gestational age) with the launch of the Child Survival and Safe Motherhood Programme (CSSM) in 1992; Reproductive and Child Health Programme Phase I (RCH I) in 1997, followed by RCH II in 2005.
The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in 2005 which, along with the National Urban Health Mission, became part of the National Health Mission in 2013; the Call to Action for Child Survival and Development, and the subsequent Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) strategic framework in 2013.
Prematurely delivered and extremely low weight babies are unique, requiring critical and special care. We have dedicated ourselves to do just that since 2000, being the first-of-its-kind newborn care centre in western India. After hundreds of successful cases, we can confidently say that we have restored countless little worlds with every baby we saved.
Dr. Amit Upadhyay, a leading consulting Pediatrician in Meerut, has been working in the field of child care since 1996 (Nutema Hospital)
D-8, Shastri Nagar, PVS Rd, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh 250001