The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : National Newborn Week from today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 15, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

National Newborn Week from today

Staff Reporter

40 per cent of infants in India die on their first day
Training programme for medical staff organised

BANGALORE: Every year in India 1.2 million infants die before completing their first four weeks of life. And for 40 per cent of infants, death occurs on the first day. There is a lot of work to be done in improving “newborn health” in India, according to Ranjan Kumar Pejaver, president of National Neonatology Forum, Karnataka Chapter.

Speaking to presspersons here on Tuesday, Dr. Pejaver said the deaths were caused due to infection, breathing problems and pre-maturity.

If care givers, parents, government and private sector, and non governmental agencies work together, this death rate can be reduced considerably, he said.

Lectures

He said the National Newborn Week was being observed throughout the country from November 15 to 21. During this week, the forum would hold lectures, symposiums on newborn care, parents’ meet and public newborn health education activities in various hospitals in the State.

A separate training programme for district medical officers and staff nurses from remote districts of North Karnataka had been organised at the Air Force Command Hospital here on November 17, he said.

The forum, along with the Department of Health and Family Welfare and Unicef, had proposed to introduce a telemedicine pilot project in Raichur, where sessions on newborn health education and consultations would be held.

The project will take off during January 2008, Dr. Pejaver said.

Annual convention

The forum has arranged its 11th annual convention from November 16 to 18 on the theme “New born care: commitment to the future” at the St. John’s Medical College. Pre-conference workshops would be held on November 16 for doctors and nurses.

There will be lectures, panel discussions, debates and paper presentation on November 17 and 18. Books titled Your Premature Baby and Low Birth Weight Baby would be released on the occasion. More than 300 doctors and nurses were likely to participate in the conference, Dr. Pejavar said.

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