The partnership between Kempten Children’s Hospital and Ola During Children's Hospital (ODCH) in Sierra Leone seeks to improve neonatal care in the country, with a particular focus on reducing mortality rates during the neonatal period (first to 28th day of life) at ODCH.
Context:
Ola During Children’s Hospital (ODCH) is the only university children’s hospital in Sierra Leone, treating children from across the country and from Guinea. Since 2021, ODCH has also been accredited to train specialists in paediatric and adolescent medicine. Nonetheless, there are still too few specialists to meet demand. This is also a consequence of the Ebola epidemic in the country, which claimed the lives of numerous doctors and nurses in 2014.
Activities:
- Hands-on courses in neonatal resuscitation with doctors and specialist nurses
- Seminars on the guidelines for appropriate neonatal treatment
- Seminar on non-invasive CPAP ventilation
- Joint work-shadowing for project participants at the Perinatal Centre in Kempten
Results:
Infants will have better survival prospects in future thanks to improved post-natal primary care for newborns and a guideline-based approach to preventing and treating the most common neonatal diseases. Standardised treatment with non-invasive ventilation will also improve infant survival rates.