CHICAGO -- When a
baby is born and is not breathing, simple techniques like rubbing the
baby dry, keeping the baby warm, and suctioning the baby’s mouth may
be all that is needed to save a life. Even more babies can begin to
breathe on their own after just a few breaths from a simple
ventilation device. A new, global initiative launched this month to
teach these essential skills to birth attendants in developing
countries should have a dramatic impact on reducing infant mortality
worldwide.
Helping Babies BreatheSM
is an initiative of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), in
consultation with the World Health Organization (WHO), and in
collaboration with the United States Agency for International
Development, Save the Children/Saving Newborn Lives, the Eunice
Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, Laerdal Medical AS, and a number of other global health
organizations.
The
collaborators will sign a Global Public-Private Alliance to launch the
initiative as part of the annual meeting of the Global Health Council
June 14-16 in Washington, DC. The meeting will include a day-long
training session with 100 international advocates who will bring
training materials back to their home countries.
The WHO
estimates that 1 million babies die each year from birth asphyxia, or
the inability to breathe immediately after delivery. Approximately the
same number of stillbirths each year are linked to events during
labor. A significant percentage of these may be liveborn babies who
simply do not breathe or move at birth, but could be resuscitated with
simple measures.
“All people who
care for babies at birth can learn to protect healthy babies, and to
help babies who do not breathe well on their own,” said neonatologist
Susan Niermeyer, MD, MPH, FAAP, editor of Helping Babies Breathe. “We
believe that Helping Babies Breathe can be a catalyst to increase
skilled attendance at birth, build linkages between communities and
health facilities, and strengthen health systems. There is the
potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives each year.”
A key concept of Helping Babies Breathe is “The Golden MinuteSM.”
Within one minute of birth, a baby should be breathing well or be
ventilated. Culturally sensitive learning materials use pictures to
illustrate the steps a birth attendant must take immediately after birth
to evaluate the baby and stimulate breathing. Realistic newborn
simulators, boilable bag-mask ventilation devices and boilable bulb
suction devices will be made available at cost to Millennium
Development Goal 4 countries.
Helping Babies
Breathe will be targeted to the 63 countries participating in
Millennium Development Goal 4, which aims for a reduction in under-5
child mortality by two-thirds from 1990 levels by the year
2015. Neonatal mortality, or death in the first month of life, accounts
for more than 40 percent of child mortality worldwide. The materials
have been tested in five pilot sites in Bangladesh, India, Kenya,
Pakistan, and Tanzania. More information is available at www.helpingbabiesbreathe.org.
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The American Academy of
Pediatrics is an organization of 60,000 primary care pediatricians,
pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists
dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children,
adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org.