Kumasi Mother-Baby Units and Neonatal Resuscitation Training Making a Difference in Improving Neonatal Survival and Well-Being

Neonatal mortality remains a concern throughout much of the world, and efforts to achieve MDG 4 – reducing child mortality by two-thirds – have been somewhat slower than medical and development professionals had hoped.

That’s why MCI has initiated several interventions intended to improve the quality of neonatal care in Kumasi, Ghana, all skillfully led by MCI Regional Coordinator for West Africa Abenaa Akuamoa-Boateng. One of the most significant has been the extensive training in neonatal survival and, with this, the creation of two Mother-Baby Units (MBUs), where new mothers can have their babies treated for minor ailments and receive guidance on nursing, health and nutrition.

Shortly after Kumasi’s designation as a Millennium City, neonatalogists from Israel’s Ben Gurion University traveled to Kumasi to train 86 midwives and nurses in neonatal resuscitation, neonatal emergencies and, with the help of South African specialists, in Kangaroo Mother Care. They discovered that the only teaching hospital in Kumasi had a perilously overcrowded neonatal intensive care unit and, with support from the Government of Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV) and MCI, designed, built and trained staff to operate two MBUs at local, neighborhood facilities – one at Kumasi South Hospital and another at Suntreso Hospital.

Those MBUs are chronicled in “Kumasi Neonatal Units 2013 Report,” authored by Ms. Akuamoa-Boateng, which details the progress of these two low-cost, beautifully configured units – from admissions to mortality trends to the utilization of Kangaroo Mother Care. While the report points to several issues that need to be addressed, it emphasizes the success of the MBUs in increasing utilization rates – thus, decreasing the overcrowding at the teaching hospital.

Read more about these impressive MBUs and the recommendations for “the way forward” – strengthening operations, equipment and infrastructure – suggestions for the city to build on the MBUs’ remarkable progress to-date in bettering the city’s access to neonatal health.