World Health Organization

Peter Cooper

Melissa McCormick

World Health Organization. Reproductive Health and Research

Every year throughout the world, about four million babies die before they reach one month old, most during the critical first week of life. Most of these deaths are a result of the poor health and nutritional status of the mother, combined with problems such as tetanus or asphyxia, trauma, low birth weight, or preterm birth. However, many of the conditions which result in perinatal death are preventable or treatable without the need for expensive technology. Against this background, this publication contains guidance on evidence-based standards for high quality care provision during the newborn period, considering the needs of mother and baby. It has been produced to assist countries with limited resources to reduce neonatal mortality. The information is arranged under four main headings: clinical assessment, findings and management; principles of newborn baby care; procedures; record keeping and essential equipment, supplies and drugs.

A Guide for Doctors Nurses and Midwives

Managing Newborn Problems

Every year about eight million women suffer pregnancy-related complications which result in over half a million deaths, mostly in developing countries. However, the majority of these deaths could be avoided, even in situations where resources are limited, if the right kind of information is available. This publication explores options for generating this kind of information, which go beyond just counting deaths to developing an understanding of why they happened and how they can be averted. It is directed at health professionals, health care planners and managers working in the area of maternal and newborn health who are striving to improve the quality of care provided. It includes a CD-ROM of sample data collection and analysis forms to serve as a basis for local adaptation.

Reviewing Maternal Deaths and Complications to Make Pregnancy Safer

Beyond the Numbers

UNAIDS

Kangaroo mother care is a method of care of preterm infants which involves infants being carried, usually by the mother, with skin-to-skin contact. This guide is intended for health professionals responsible for the care of low-birth-weight and preterm infants. Designed to be adapted to local conditions, it provides guidance on how to organize services at the referral level and on what is needed to provide effective kangaroo mother care.

A Practical Guide

Kangaroo Mother Care

World Health Organization. Family and Community Health

This document is one of two evidence-based cornerstones of the World Health Organization's (WHO) new initiative to develop and implement evidence-based guidelines for family planning. The first cornerstone, the Medical eligibility criteria for contraceptive use (third edition) published in 2004, provides guidance for who can use contraceptive methods safely. This document, the Selected practice recommendations for contraceptive use (second edition), provides guidance for how to use contraceptive methods safely and effectively once they are deemed to be medically appropriate. The recommendations contained in this document are the product of a process that culminated in an expert Working Group meeting held at the World Health Organization, Geneva, 13-16 April 2004.

Selected Practice Recommendations for Contraceptive Use

This guide provides a full range of updated, evidence-based norms and standards that will enable health care providers to give high quality care during pregnancy, delivery and in the postpartum period, considering the needs of the mother and her newborn baby. All recommendations are for skilled attendants working at the primary level of health care, either at the facility or in the community. They apply to all women attending antenatal care, in delivery, postpartum or post abortion care, or who come for emergency care, and to all newborns at birth and during the first week of life (or later) for routine and emergency care. This guide is a guide for clinical decision-making. It facilitates the collection; analysis, classification and use of relevant information by suggesting key questions, essential observations and/or examinations, and recommending appropriate research-based interventions. It promotes the early detection of complications and the initiation of early and appropriate treatment, including time referral, if necessary. Correct use of this guide should help reduce high maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity rates prevalent in many parts of the developing world, thereby making pregnancy and childbirth safer.

World Health Organization. Reproductive Health and Research

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