27 March 2022 - The preparation for the second phase of the Early Essential Newborn Care (EENC) training programme started early January 2022 by having a coordination meeting with Sexual Reproductive Health Technical Work Group to select the targeted maternal hospital and the list of participants. This was followed by visiting the hospital proposed to host the training here in Gaziantep to check the place and available labor rooms and other required medical equipment and supplies.

The process of obtaining the cross-border permission for the selected participants from north west Syria started in late January 2022 and the start date of the EENC training programme was 13th March 2022 and continued for two sequenced weeks to 27th March 2022. The Agenda and training materials were developed and shared with the participants who came from 13 Hospitals inside north west Syria. All logistic issues will be managed by WHO’s Partner, IDA, to ensure everything is well organized.

EENC is an evidence-based approach to improving newborn care in the final stage of labour and the first hours of life. It was developed in the Western Pacific Region of WHO and has now been adopted and scaled-up in over 15 countries, including China, Viet Nam, Cambodia and Philippines. EENC focused on preventing mortality from asphyxia, infection and prematurity, the most common causes of newborn death. It does this by delivering simple evidence-based interventions, including immediate and sustained skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby, delayed cord clamping and early initiation of breastfeeding, at the time of birth. EENC uses adult-based learning principles to coach gynecologists, pediatricians and midwives in their usual practice environments across WRPO countries.

Since 2017, EENC coaching programmes have been introduced across the Eastern Mediterranean region, in Pakistan, Sudan, and Palestine and will soon to be taken to Yemen. Coaching of hospital staff in NW Syria began in late 2021, with a second round of coaching completed in March 2022. WHO would like to thank all those involved in EENC in Turkey, Syria and across the globe, for their commitment to ensuring that no newborn is left behind.

For more information, please contact

Grattan Lynch, Communications Officer
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