SCALING UP HELPING BABIES BREATHE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT CYCLE

Uppsala University and Golden Community in partnership with Ministry of Health and Population, Government of Nepal (GoN) in implementing quality improvement of perinatal care in public hospitals of Nepal.

Recent preliminary findings from Nepal Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) 2016 show that Nepal has made considerable progress in reducing childhood mortality. Whilst achieving Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4, neonatal mortality remained the same over the years. Nepal’s Newborn Action Plan (NeNAP) has pledged to reduce neonatal mortality rate to 11 per 1000 live births and stillbirth rate to 13 per 1000 total births by 2030 (currently 21/1000 live births; NDHS 2016).

Ending preventable maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths will be one of the major focuses of Ministry of Health in the coming years, through the commitment made in NeNAP. These targets will not be achieved without improving the quality of care around the time of birth and for small and sick newborns. In this regard, CHD has taken initiative to introduce a multi-faceted ‘Quality Improvement (QI)’ intervention in hospitals focusing on the improvement of perinatal care quality. The approach is based on WHO’s “Standards for Improving Quality of Maternal and Newborn Care in Health Facilities” and “Nepal’s Every Newborn Action Plan”. GC will evaluate the implementation of quality improvement in selected public hospitals and work in close collaboration with Uppsala University.