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‘Give babies a chance to survive, thrive’

The Malawi Government, with support from Save the Children has launched a pilot health promotion campaign in Thyolo District to increase the value of newborn life and community engagement in saving newborn lives.
The six month long campaign dubbed Khanda ndi Mphatso (a baby is a gift) will also be implemented in Machinga under government’s Moyo ndi Mpamba project with focus on promotion of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) for low birth weight and pre-term babies.
Speaking during the launch at Thyolo ground on Tuesday, spokesperson in the Ministry of Health Adrian Chikumbe said the campaign highlights the need to value newborns and calls to action parents to give babies a chance to survive and thrive.

More babies are born with low birth weight
More babies are born with low birth weight

Said Chikumbe: “You may be aware that Malawi has achieved MDG 4 in reducing childhood mortality but newborn deaths are still high.
“Considering that Malawi has low levels of literacy and various
cultural practices and attitudes that hinder newborn health, the
critical role of health communication in enhancing greater individual and collective participation in addressing such barriers to new born health cannot be overemphasized.”
Neonatal mortality rate is estimated at 29 per 1,000 births and
contributes almost 37 percent of all under-five deaths.
District Health Officer for Thyolo, Dr Michael Murowa said an average of 2500 babies are born in the district every month, but 19 percent of these are born with low birth weight, slightly higher than the national percentage of 18.
Murowa added that at the district hospital alone, an average of 450 babies are born each month and about 40 of these are born with low birth weight.

“This is basically due to teenage pregnancies, infections like malaria, poor diet and HIV and AIDS. The HIV prevalence rate here [Thyolo] is about 16 percent,” he said.
The Khanda ndi Mphatso campaign is designed to bring together
community and religious leaders, health care providers, policy makers and community members to jointly take actions that will result in the improvement of newborn health in the communities.
KMC involves three key principles to care for babies, especially
preterm babies. They are warmth by positioning the baby skin-to-skin with the mother, increased breastfeeding and empowering the mother to care for her small baby and allowing early discharge home.

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