TY - JOUR
T1 - Quality newborn care in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea
T2 - measuring early newborn care practices and identifying opportunities for improvement
AU - Wilson, Alyce N.
AU - Melepia, Pele
AU - Suruka, Rose
AU - Hezeri, Priscah
AU - Kabiu, Dukduk
AU - Babona, Delly
AU - Wapi, Pinip
AU - Spotswood, Naomi
AU - Bohren, Meghan A.
AU - Vogel, Joshua P.
AU - Kelly-Hanku, Angela
AU - Morgan, Alison
AU - Beeson, James G.
AU - Morgan, Christopher
AU - Vallely, Lisa M.
AU - Waramin, Edward J.
AU - Scoullar, Michelle J.L.
AU - Homer, Caroline S.E.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding was provided by the Burnet Institute through philanthropic support from numerous private and business donors in Australia and PNG. Major funding was provided by June Canavan Foundation Australia; Gras Foundation, Australia; Bank South Pacific PNG Community Grant; Steamships PNG Community Grant; Alistair Lucas Prize for Medical Research; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (Fellowships to CSE and JGB, Postgraduate Research Scholarship to AW); Naylor Steward Ancillary Fund, and the Chrysalis Foundation. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Burnet Institute is supported by an Operational Infrastructure Grant from the State Government of Victoria, Australia, and the NHMRC Independent Research Institutes Infrastructure Support Scheme.
Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge the women and maternity care providers from the community of East New Britain, Papua New Guinea for generously taking part in the study. We recognize and gratefully acknowledge the dedication and contribution by the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies study team in Kokopo and Melbourne, in addition to colleagues at PNG Institute for Medical Research. Our special thanks to the National Department of Health, the East New Britain Provincial Administration, the Provincial Health Authority, Catholic Health Services and participating health facilities (Nonga General Hospital, St Mary’s Vunapope, Kerevat Rural Hospital, Napapar Health Centre, and Malasait Community Health Post) for enthusiastically working together on this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Background: Renewed attention and investment is needed to improve the quality of care during the early newborn period to address preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths in Papua New Guinea (PNG). We aimed to assess early newborn care practices and identify opportunities for improvement in one province (East New Britain) in PNG. Methods: A mixed-methods study was undertaken in five rural health facilities in the province using a combination of facility audits, labour observations and qualitative interviews with women and maternity providers. Data collection took place between September 2019 and February 2020. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively, whilst qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. Data were triangulated by data source. Results: Five facility audits, 30 labour observations (in four of the facilities), and interviews with 13 women and eight health providers were conducted to examine early newborn care practices. We found a perinatal mortality rate of 32.2 perinatal deaths per 1000 total births and several barriers to quality newborn care, including an insufficient workforce, critical infrastructure and utility constraints, and limited availability of essential newborn medicines and equipment. Most newborns received at least one essential newborn care practice in the first hour of life, such as immediate and thorough drying (97%). Conclusions: We observed high rates of essential newborn care practices including immediate skin-to-skin and delayed cord clamping. We also identified multiple barriers to improving the quality of newborn care in East New Britain, PNG. These findings can inform the development of effective interventions to improve the quality of newborn care. Further, this study demonstrates that multi-faceted programs that include increased investment in the health workforce, education and training, and availability of essential equipment, medicines, and supplies are required to improve newborn outcomes.
AB - Background: Renewed attention and investment is needed to improve the quality of care during the early newborn period to address preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths in Papua New Guinea (PNG). We aimed to assess early newborn care practices and identify opportunities for improvement in one province (East New Britain) in PNG. Methods: A mixed-methods study was undertaken in five rural health facilities in the province using a combination of facility audits, labour observations and qualitative interviews with women and maternity providers. Data collection took place between September 2019 and February 2020. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively, whilst qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. Data were triangulated by data source. Results: Five facility audits, 30 labour observations (in four of the facilities), and interviews with 13 women and eight health providers were conducted to examine early newborn care practices. We found a perinatal mortality rate of 32.2 perinatal deaths per 1000 total births and several barriers to quality newborn care, including an insufficient workforce, critical infrastructure and utility constraints, and limited availability of essential newborn medicines and equipment. Most newborns received at least one essential newborn care practice in the first hour of life, such as immediate and thorough drying (97%). Conclusions: We observed high rates of essential newborn care practices including immediate skin-to-skin and delayed cord clamping. We also identified multiple barriers to improving the quality of newborn care in East New Britain, PNG. These findings can inform the development of effective interventions to improve the quality of newborn care. Further, this study demonstrates that multi-faceted programs that include increased investment in the health workforce, education and training, and availability of essential equipment, medicines, and supplies are required to improve newborn outcomes.
KW - Maternal and newborn health
KW - Newborn care
KW - Papua New Guinea
KW - Quality care
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85131190231
U2 - 10.1186/s12884-022-04735-7
DO - 10.1186/s12884-022-04735-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 35650540
AN - SCOPUS:85131190231
SN - 1471-2393
VL - 22
JO - BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
JF - BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
IS - 1
M1 - 462
ER -