Newborn Health - Surviving the First Day

  Every year, Save the Children releases a report on the State of the World’s Mothers, paying great attention to the experiences of pregnant women around the world. For this year’s State of the World’s Mother report, Save the Children decided it was imperative to place focus on the experiences of newborns globally. Every year, according to the State of the World’s Mothers 2013 report, 1 million newborn babies die on the first day of their life—making the first day of birth the most dangerous day for babies nearly everywhere. This year, State of the World’s Mothers present a first-ever Birth Day Risk Index that examines data from 176 countries, depicting where babies are at the greatest risk of death on the day they are born. Sierra Leone ranks at 174. Although the State of the World’s Mothers - Surviving the First Day was launched on May 7th globally, Save the Children Sierra Leone decided it was imperative that the launch of the report in Sierra Leone served as a technical forum for strategic discussions that will lead to a more focused approach in newborn death reduction. Joanna Tom Kargbo, the Everyone Campaign manager for Sierra Leone, is optimistic, “the newborn forum will serve as a road map, an entry point for collective re-thinking and re-focus on newborn health in Sierra Leone.” She explains that a significant point of discussion at the forum called for better collaboration and strengthened partnerships amongst health professionals, organizations and government, “we need to work better together to ensure that the continuum of care required to save newborn lives is developed and sustained.”When asked about how blood donation fits into newborn health, Joanna responds by reiterating that “to sustain the continuum of care, community involvement is crucial and blood comes from the community. The more blood donors we have, the more lives we can save. Blood is an important factor in the holistic approach we must take to save newborn lives.”For more information on the report visit here and you can join a blood donor group today here.