Essential New Born Care - Home Based Care by Asha Workers

Neonatal mortality in developing countries is one of the most important problems that need immediate attention in order to achieve Millennium Development Goals. About 4 million newborns die in the world every year, 90 % of them in the developing world. Most of these deaths are preventable by simple interventions in the community. However, in most of the target countries, the implementation of essential newborn care has been very poor. The home based or community care packages include maternal care, essential newborn care, improving the behavior change communication of the community, resuscitation of newborn babies at the time of home delivery, and management of sick newborns with antibiotics at home. Studies have reported one-third to two-third reduction of mortality among newborns after home based care interventions.