This webinar marked World Prematurity Day. This day raises awareness for the challenges of preterm birth and celebrates the lives of preterm infants and their families worldwide. Preterm birth is the leading cause of death in children under the age of five; each year, about 15 million babies worldwide are born preterm, that is about 1 in 10 children.

This webinar reviewed the gaps, solutions and opportunities to address preterm birth and scale up small and sick newborn care. Ministries of Health representatives shared their progress, experience and lessons learned in implementing and scaling up small and sick newborn care.

Agenda:

Welcome and introduction: Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director, Department for Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO Geneva

Small and Sick Newborn Care- Where are the gaps?

Progress across 106 countries for small and sick newborn care: Dr Gagan Gupta, Senior Advisor, Maternal and Newborn Health, UNICEF New York

Scaling up access to quality inpatient care for preterm babies in Ghana: Dr Chris Fofie, Deputy Director, Reproductive and Child Health Unit, Family Health Division, Ghana Health Service

Small and Sick Newborn care- What are the Solutions?

Panel of experts:

Moderated by Dr Queen Dube, Newborn Health Lead, Department for Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO Geneva

• Dr Felix Bundala, Director for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Ministry of Health, Tanzania
• Dr Dennis Marke, Program Manager, Health Systems Strengthening, Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Sierra Leone
• Dr Md. Jahurul Islam, Program Manager, National Newborn Health Program & Integrated Management of Childhood Illness, Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh
• Dr Syeda Humaida Hasan, Consultant, Department of Neonatology, Chittagong Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh

Questions & Answers with the audience

This webinar was co-hosted by the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, World Health Organization Geneva and UNICEF HQ.

'Analysis and use of health facility data: guidance for MNCAH programme managers' describes a catalogue of indicators for maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (MNCAH) that can be monitored through health management information system data. The document provides guidance on possible analysis and visualization of the indicators, including considerations for interpreting and using the data for decision-making.

To accompany this guidance, WHO has developed presentation and exercise materials, including a facilitator guide, that can be used in workshops to strengthen capacity of analysis, interpretation, and use of data by MNCAH managers.

This webinar introduced the guidance document and capacity strengthening materials, and shared how programme managers and partners can use these resources.

Agenda

Welcome and introduction: Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director, Department for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO Geneva

Overview of the guidance document and capacity strengthening materials: Liz Katwan, Epidemiology, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, Department for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO Geneva

Panel discussion:

Facilitated by Dr Theresa Diaz, Unit Head, Epidemiology, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, Department for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO Geneva

• Maria Muñiz, Senior Adviser Statistics & Monitoring (Health, Immunization, MNCAH & HIV), Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring, UNICEF
• Dr Benson Droti, Team Lead, Health Information System, WHO Regional Office for Africa
• Dr Khalid Siddeeg, Regional Adviser, Child and Adolescent Health, WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean
• Barbara Rawlins, Senior Implementation Research Advisor, Bureau for Global Health, USAID

Closing remarks: Dr Theresa Diaz, WHO Geneva

This webinar was hosted by the Department for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO Geneva.

This webinar took a deep dive into the pediatric quality of care indicators and shared latest updates from pathfinder countries Sierra Leone and Kenya that moved ahead with efforts to introduce the pediatric quality of care indicators in their national health information systems. Country teams shared their experiences, lessons learned and next steps to advance pediatric QoC measurement at country level based on this effort, and the audience gained practical recommendations to adapt to their countries.

Agenda:

Welcome: Dr Anne Detjen, Health Specialist, UNICEF New York

Introduction of the pediatric QoC indicators and overview of WHO-led activity to support the uptake of the indicators in 4 pathfinder countries: Dr Moise Muzigaba, Technical Officer, Epidemiology, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, Department for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO Geneva

Experience from Sierra Leone and Kenya and next steps:

• Mr Bernard M. Wambu, Senior Programme Manager, Monitoring & Evaluation and Health Systems, Division of Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health, Ministry of Health Nairobi
• Dr Makeba Shiroya, Technical Officer, Child and Adolescent Health, WHO Kenya
• Dr Binyam Hailu, Medical Officer, Team Lead for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health, WHO Sierra Leone

Questions & Answers

This was the second webinar in a series on pediatric quality of care co-hosted by the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and the Quality of Care subgroup of the Child Health Task Force.

In this webinar, co-hosted with WHO and Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and Ministries of Health leads from Zambia and Uganda, we took a deep dive into community engagement in Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR).

Welcome: Francesca Palestra, Department of Maternal Newborn Child and Adolescent Health , WHO Geneva

The role of community engagement in MPDSR: Mary Mbuo, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Overview of Community Surveillance of Maternal and Neonatal Mortality and Stillbirths; Country Experiences from Zambia and Uganda: Oluwaseun Aladesanmi, Global Associate Program Director, Maternal Newborn Health, CHAI

Panel discussion on lessons learned facilitated by Olive Cocoman, Learning Lead, Quality of Care Network

Questions & Answers: Francesca Palestra, WHO

This webinar was hosted by the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO Geneva, Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), and the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

Credits: © UNICEF/UNI108057/Asselin

As part of efforts to strengthen implementation of maternal, newborn and child health quality of care, the Quality of Care Network and the Quality of Care subgroup of the Child Health Task Force are starting a new series of webinars on pediatric quality of care. The purpose of this series is to share opportunities, challenges, and recent advances in support of the implementation and monitoring of pediatric quality of care, and provide practical guidance to implementers.

In this first webinar, Ministries of Health representatives shared their learnings and priorities for scaling up the implementation of pediatric quality of care at national and sub-national level. The Network and Task Force shared emerging opportunities and priorities to advance pediatric quality of care at scale based on recent discussions with Network countries and partners.

This was the first webinar in a series on pediatric quality of care co-hosted by the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and the Quality of Care subgroup of the Child Health Task Force.

Credits: © UNICEF/UN0446450/Bashizi

Every preterm or low birth weight (LBW) infant, whether in low-, middle- or high-income settings, should receive continuous and prolonged kangaroo mother care (KMC) initiated as soon as possible after birth and carried out for at least 8 hours per day.

Achieving this will require changes to the physical layout of maternal and neonatal units to enable mothers to be together with their sick preterm or LBW infants who need to be cared for inside special/intensive care units. It will also require a change in the culture of health care provision with
obstetricians, midwives, pediatricians, and neonatal nurses working together in harmony caring for mothers and newborns together in one place with families as key partners in the care of their newborns.

The World Health Organization released the new Global Position Paper and Implementation Strategy to support the scale-up of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC). This webinar included questions to Ministries of Health about their experiences scaling-up KMC and to global stakeholders about their plans to support the scale-up of KMC as the foundation for small and/or sick newborn care in order to achieve universal coverage.

The Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO Geneva, the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the Pan American Health Organization hosted a webinar to explore regional approaches for integrating Near Miss into Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) systems.

This webinar brought together experts and professionals from Latin American, Caribbean, and European regions who will present the latest tools, guidance and recommendations developed to facilitate the integration of near miss and MPDSR. A case study from Colombia offered valuable insights into the practical implementation and provide an opportunity to discuss challenges and opportunities for this integration.

Welcome and introduction: Francesca Palestra, WHO Geneva

Part 1: Near Miss Tools and Guidance in the European Region: Oleg Kuzmenko, WHO Regional Office for Europe

Part 2: Recommendations for establishing a National Surveillance System for Extremely Severe Maternal Morbidity in Latin America and the Caribbean: Bremen de Mucio, PAHO

Part 3: Sharing insights and lessons learned from the practical implementation of MPDSR system in Colombia: Greace Alejandra Avila Mellizo, National Institute of Health, Colombia

This webinar was hosted by the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO Geneva, the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the Pan American Health Organization, with the support of the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.