Deal to improve newborn health
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) yesterday signed an agreement to improve the health of newborn children in Bangladesh.
“Helping Babies Breathe”, a newborn health care programme, will be funded by the US government through its development agency USAID and implemented in Bangladesh by Save the Children.
Through this initiative, BSMMU will work with birth attendants by training them to help newborns who have breathing difficulties after birth.
In Bangladesh, 32 out of every 1,000 newborn babies die within 28 days of birth from preventable causes, says a press release of the US Embassy in Dhaka.
This first month of life is the most vulnerable time for children, and over 57% of child deaths in the under-five category occur during this time. One-fifth of these newborn deaths are due to birth asphyxia.
Asphyxia, the inability to breathe properly, accounts for more deaths each year than AIDS and malaria combined.
Through this program, USAID will provide $1.4 million to BSMMU over next three years to train more than 20,000 skilled birth attendants throughout the country.
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