An Evaluation of special care newborn units in eight districts in India

Every year, 4 million newborn babies die in the first month of life, 99% in low and middle income countries.1 India carries the highest single share of neonatal deaths in the world- around 25-30% of the world wide total. India is home to 20% of global neonatal births and 30% of global neonatal deaths. Within this lies the foremost challenge of preventing the deaths occurring within the first 2 days of life which account for 45% of neonatal deaths2 . Well organized neonatal healthcare infrastructure and system is central to reduction of neonatal mortality and morbidity. Organization of optimum neonatal health infrastructure is a formidable task and poses multiple challenges like availability of newborn healthcare facilities, adequate skilled manpower, equipment and supplies and clinical practice guidelines. Capacity building of the healthcare staff of these facilities followed by constant supportive supervision and mentoring along with monitoring and evaluation is an onerous task which needs to be in place to ensure their smooth functioning