New healthcare for mothers and babies

The National National

By Glenda Awikiak
MORE than US$6 million (K19.5mil) has been allocated to roll out a new healthcare service for newborn babies and mothers.
The funding is from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Australia, Unicef Australia and the Health Department to implement a new maternal and neonatal care project “saving lives, spreading smiles” in the 89 districts of the country.
Health Department public health manager Sibauk Bieb said it was the use of simple technology to address clinical outcomes so babies survived and mothers were healthy through receiving simple technology that influenced the behaviour of caregivers in rural as well as urban areas, in communities, in health facilities.
“It’s about doing things with people and not to people as we do in the past. It’s about the government making it possible to deliver such services for mothers and children until they reach adulthood and become productive members of our societies,” Bieb said.
It is to ensure that:

  • Manager and health service providers had necessary guiding framework, real time evidence and coordinating mechanisms at national, provincial and district level to plan, budget and deliver early essential newborn care package.
  • All health workers to have the required skills and knowledge to deliver the service effectively.
  • Also parents, caregivers and community members to have greater understanding of the importance and positive attitudes towards newborn and maternal health care practices.

It is a three-year project that started in July and would end in June 2021 and would be spearheaded by Unicef in partnership with the Health Department.