WHO releases new resources for kangaroo care

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a global position paper and an accompanying implementation strategy on kangaroo mother care. Taken together, these publications explain how kangaroo care (skin-to-skin care) can be a life-saving intervention, especially for preterm and low birth-weight infants.

The reports illustrate new findings and evidence-based recommendations for preterm care and call on the global maternal, newborn and child health community, political and programmatic leadership, and families to support kangaroo care in all settings.

WHO recommends that governments should include kangaroo care as part of national programmes, ensuring it is financed and monitored with additional parental leave and entitlements. Facilities and healthcare providers should help ensure skin-to-skin contact for a recommended 8-24 hours a day, starting immediately after birth. A mother and her newborn should receive care together as a unit; partners and family members can help in providing kangaroo care and should be supported with coaching, emotional and practical assistance.

To read the reports visit:

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/367626/9789240072657-eng.pdf

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/367625/9789240071636-eng.pdf