Using skin-to-skin to save lives
Photo credit: Fredrik Lerneryd / Save the Children
Premature birth is one of the leading causes of death for children under 5.
Conventional care requires equipment that many families don’t have access to locally and cannot afford to access at expensive district hospitals.
At Save the Children, we believe all children have the right to not only survive but thrive. That’s why we promote a mother-centred practice called Kangaroo Mother Care: a high-impact, low-cost method based around skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby.
This simple approach not only keeps premature babies warm, free from stress, and close to their mother’s heartbeat. Importantly, it also greatly improves their chances of survival.
For us to continue to scale this programme, we need to train more nurses, midwives, and volunteers. Regular donations are the best way to enable us to do this, as we can confidently plan for the future.
Without our team of over 300,000 regular donors, long-term projects like this simply would not be possible.
If you too believe lasting change is possible, join us today.
Ensuring lasting change from day one
“I was told that chances of survival were low.”
Meet Diana and her baby Blessings. Diana, pregnant with her first child, went into early labour. Blessings weighed just 1kg when she was born.
The pair stayed in a Save the Children supported hospital where our staff taught her Kangaroo Mother Care. Rosemary, a midwife at the hospital, has been trained to support mothers with this method. Rosemary explains:
“A baby who is under incubator care, power can go off and this baby will become hypothermic. But a baby who is on mother's chest there is constant warmth.”
Every day, our doctors, nurses, and health teams are saving lives in hard-to-reach communities around the world.
Photo credit: Fredrik Lerneryd / Save the Children
Who are Save the Children UK?
Every child has a unique story. We help children rewrite theirs.
Save the Children fights for children every single day so they can fulfil their unique potential.
Month after month, in the UK and around the world, we make sure children stay safe, healthy and keep learning, so they can become who they want to be.
We could not do this without our team of over 300,000 supporters who give a donation every month.
Monthly donations allow us to plan for the long term. To be not just reactive, but proactive in thousands of projects across the world all designed with one thing in mind: to improve the lives of children.
We know what needs to be done. To do it, we need you.
