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"While I am excited to be a part of this super team, our paper is a sobering reminder that we need to strengthen our systems to ensure newborns everywhere receive high-quality healthcare." Adeniyi Aderoba (cohort 2018-19)

adeniyi aderoba
Photograph of Adeniyi Aderoba

This new WHO multi-country study in Nigeria, Ghana, and Guinea call attention to the changes needed globally, to ensure equitable and respectful care for all women and their babies. Many newborns, especially babies from single mothers and women with lower education do not receive WHO recommended care practices such as breastfeeding and skin-to-skin care. Also, 52% of newborns get separated from their mothers within 2 hours of childbirth. Babies born to single mothers are 1.8 times more likely to be separated. Failure to provide newborns with the WHO recommended care practices constitute substandard care and ideally a violation of their human right. Further, these health system failures potentially diminish client satisfaction and affect how families seek health care services.

Visit Science Direct to read the full study.