Severe infections in young babies account for one in 3 newborn deaths. The newly cut umbilical cord is an important entry point for infections. By applying 7.1% chlorhexidine (a topical antiseptic that kills and stops bacteria) to the umbilical cord stump each day in the first week of life, we can prevent many cases of infection in low and middle-income countries.
Current research conducted by Burnet in East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea suggested that routine postnatal care service coverage in the first week after birth is low, reaching only approximately 17% of mothers. Data from this study also shows low levels of parental awareness of what constitutes good preventative postnatal care.
Therefore, the overall aim of this study was to scale up information and education relating to the postnatal period, and introduce chlorhexidine for use by families.
Our project aimed to:
Key activities included:
In 2018, we worked closely with the manufacturer GSK to arrange for purchase and supply of the first tranche of 9,000 boxes of umbilical cord chlorhexidine (Umbipro) for use in East New Britain province. This is the first deployment of this commodity in the country.
From December 2018, we began trialling different approaches to postnatal care, including home visits by village health volunteers. These were successful in connecting families with life-saving care.
In 2019 we developed Papua New Guinea’s first set of targeted postnatal community education materials, aiming to help families understand more about how to care for mothers and babies in the first crucial weeks after childbirth.
This project ran from 2018 to 2019.
GlaxoSmithKline