In developing-country hospitals, an old, low-cost method works best<\/p>\n
Karl Wilson
\nAgence France Press
\nManila<\/p>\n
Every day at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in central
\nManila, dozens of women can be found lying on the floor, their
\nnew-born babies wrapped in a pouch of cloth and strapped to their
\nchest.<\/p>\n
Some 70-100 babies are born every day at the 700-bed maternity
\nhospital, around 15 of them premature or with a low birth-weight.
\nSo, with only 14 incubators at the hospital and the weakest
\nchildren needing several days' stay, incubator space is at a
\npremium.<\/p>\n
With no money to buy new incubators, the hospital five years
\nago began using the so-called Kangaroo Mother Care method which
\ninvolves putting only the very weakest babies in mechanical
\nincubators and swaddling the rest with their mothers.<\/p>\n
Pioneered by a hospital in Bogota, Colombia, in 1979, the
\nmethod has spread around the developing world, being used in
\nhospitals in some 40 countries, and is being seriously looked at
\nin the United States and in Europe.<\/p>\n
Since the programme was adopted in 1999, the Manila hospital
\nhas seen a dramatic 30 percent fall in deaths among low birth-
\nweight babies, said Dr Socorro Mendoza, who heads the programme
\nhere.<\/p>\n
The babies' heart-beat and temperature remain much more stable
\nwhen they are with their mothers and they tend to gain weight
\nfaster and go home a lot quicker than those in incubators, she
\nsaid. The human incubators feed and stimulate the babies, which
\nthe mechanical ones cannot do.<\/p>\n
The results of the programme have been so positive that the
\nhospital has now begun training seven other government hospitals
\nin Manila in the method, Mendoza said.<\/p>\n
Improving child healthcare is considered crucial in this
\ncountry of 84 million people, where the infant mortality rate
\nstands at 19.7 per 1,000 live births. In most developing
\ncountries 17 out of 1,000 babies born alive die within the first
\nfew weeks of life, according to data published in the Manila-
\nbased Medical Observer.<\/p>\n
The predominantly Roman Catholic country has one of the
\nhighest population growth rates in Asia averaging 2.3 percent
\nannually which is around 5,000 births a day.<\/p>\n
Many of these babies are premature low-weight babies which,
\naccording to the World Health Organization's definition, are
\nbabies born weighing less than 2,500 grams (about 100 ounces).<\/p>\n
\"Caring for these babies puts a tremendous strain on the
\npublic health system of poor countries like the Philippines,\" Dr.
\nMendoza told AFP.<\/p>\n
\"In developed countries these babies are put in incubators,
\nwhich are expensive and remain in the neo-natal intensive care
\nunit for months.<\/p>\n
\"What makes the Kangaroo Mother Care programme such a godsend
\nfor countries like ours is that we simply go back to nature at
\nvery little cost.<\/p>\n
\"Like the marsupial the programme is named after, baby and
\nmother should be together as one,\" she said.<\/p>\n
kw\/pcj\/th<\/p>\n
Health-Philippines-population-babies
\nAFP<\/p>\n
GetAFP 2.10 -- AUG 15, 2004 09:41:50<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/in-developing-country-hospitals-an-old-low-cost-method-works-best-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }