Catalyzing Quality of Care of Small and Sick Newborns in India: Taking Policy to Action
Session recording will be available soon.
Session Date: April 23, 2021
Session Description: With only 10 years remaining to the SDG deadline of 2030, India needs to accelerate progress and investment in newborn health to end preventable newborn deaths. Despite establishing more than 800 SNCU and 2500 NBSU India’s high neonatal mortality at 28 per 1000 live births is contributed by preterm & low birth weight babies necessitating a multipronged public health strategy centering on quality improvement. The USAID Vriddhi project implemented this approach in 7 states. The family was put in the center of caregiving of small and sick newborns through Family Participatory Care in SNCU while capacity of primary care providers was enhanced and non-functional Newborn Stabilization Units (NBSU) were strengthened. Quality of care was improved through precision supervision whereby skills and confidence among healthcare providers were built by experts of a Maternal Newborn Resource Center. Measurement being central in quality improvement, available data was used to develop dashboards for guiding improvement. The SNCU Quality Care Index was used in monitoring performance and guiding actions for improving care in SNCUs. District Hospital Quality Care indices were developed for measuring and improving District Hospital performance on essential maternal and newborn care in period around birth. Ensuring the initiative fit within existing governance structure has enabled their sustainability. Lessons learnt are important especially for LMICs in their journey of Quality Improvement in care of small & sick newborn.
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