This roadmap aims to provide a framework for countries to improve quality of care for newborns, including care for small and sick newborns, and support countries to achieve the SDG target to reduce neonatal mortality to less than 12 per 1,000 lives births by 2030. It consists of 10 strategies to guide countries in developing their policies to improve the number and competencies of the health care workforce to deliver high quality essential care for small and sick newborns.
Key Messages
- Critical for universal health coverage and to meet the SDGs by 2030: Countries must invest in the health care workforce to achieve universal health coverage, meet the SDG targets, and ensure the vision of the Every Newborn Action Plan that every newborn not only survives, but thrives.
- Rights-based and family-centered: All newborns have the right to quality, evidence-based, nurturing care from health workers with the appropriate knowledge, technical skills, and behavioral skills, working in partnership with families.
- Opportunity to save lives now: Facility-based births will provide links to maternal care, ending preventable stillbirths, and extending newborn services for improved outcomes.
- Preventing disability: The focus should be on high quality care, not just reducing neonatal death. This will also help optimize neurodevelopmental outcomes.
- Promoting equity: Addressing inequity in human resources will reduce neonatal mortality and morbidity.
- Promoting high quality care and well-being: Strengthening human resources for health policies will enable countries to manage, train, recruit, and retain health workers.