Gov’t to implement kangaroo care method to eradicate premature baby deaths

Kangaroo care is said to be when you hold your baby to your bare chest so your baby has direct skin-to-skin contact with you. The baby is held upright with their head to one side between the mother’s breasts or against the partner’s chest. One hand should support the baby’s head and the other over the bottom. Often, a blanket is placed over the top of the baby to help keep them warm.

Cameroon has stated through the Ministry of Health that plans are being made to promote and implement the Kangaroo method in order to curb and reduce deaths of premature babies.

According to the Minister, this method has been proven to be successful. He says out of the 1,525 premature and low-birth-weight newborns received in the kangaroo mother units, 1,221 survived thanks to the method.

“This method Should be sustained, reinforced, and expanded to achieve comprehensive coverage across our entire nation, ensuring the survival and balanced development of infants in both urban
and rural areas”.

He went ahead to state that the survival chances of preterm babies through the method is over 80 percent.

The World Health Organization, WHO, recommends skin-to-skin contact for eight to 24 hours daily. These recommendations they say apply to all babies born preterm or with low birth weight.