WHO and UNICEF have issued a joint statement highlighting the importance of home visits in improving newborn survival.

Almost 40% of under-five deaths happen in the first 28 days of life, during the neonatal or newborn period. 75% of these neonatal deaths happen in the first week of life, with 25-45% occurring in the first 24 hours after birth. The first few days of life are a critical time in the health of a baby. WHO and UNICEF now recommend a home visit in a baby’s first week of life to improve newborn survival, a strategy that Infante Sano has been implementing in the Dominican Republic.

In the DR, women and their newborns are often discharged from the hospital within a few hours after giving birth. Typically, their next contact with the healthcare system is at a check-up and immunization 2-4 weeks after. This leaves a gap in the continuum of care during a critical stage of the newborn period when most neonatal deaths occur. We have been working since the start of 2009 to address this unmet need by ensuring a home visit within 72 hours after hospital discharge in our partner communities. Community health workers visit every woman and their new baby in the first days of life; ensuring that mom and baby are well, that baby is being breastfed and screening for any danger signs that would require clinical attention. Since the start of this year, we have conducted over 70 home visits to mothers and their newborns! We are proud of the success of our home visit initiative so far and happy to now have  a statement of support from WHO and UNICEF.

The full statement is definitely worth a read and available here.

Tags: Maternal & Child Health, World Connect Grants