Abstract:
Introduction: Care of all newborns includes immediate and thorough drying, skin to skin
contact of the newborn with the mother, cord clamping and cutting after the first minutes after
birth, early initiation of breastfeeding, and exclusive breastfeeding. Labour, birth and the
immediate postnatal period are the most critical for newborn and maternal survival. Health care
professionals in general play a role to ensure that the newborn has best possible beginning of life,
be aware of the potential problems and be alert to the infants changing condition and to intervene
appropriately when necessary. Objectives: The study aimed at description of the activities done
in preparation for delivery and newborn care, the immediate care provided to newborns and to
determine performance of potentially harmful newborn practices. Methods: This was a cross
sectional study, carried out in the MTRH. The study subjects were all health care practitioners
(39) involved in immediate care of neonates, the sampling method was a census, and an
observational checklist was used to collect the data. Analysis was performed using variance
statistics. Significance level was set at α=0.05. Results: A total of 39 health care workers
participated in the study. Most items were available in the delivery room, sterile gloves (100%),
clean gloves (97.4%) and hand sanitizer (64.1%). Initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour
of birth is at 70.5%, reasons such as resuscitation of newborn, repair of episiotomy/tears were
cited for not initiating breastfeeding. Performance of inappropriate newborn practices such as
lack of provision of heat source during delivery (46.2%), inadequate drying of head (23.1%) and
placements on a cold surface were noted (3.9%). Conclusion: Study findings highlight the fact
that quality of care was good in areas such as preparation of items before delivery (sterile and
clean gloves), initiation of breastfeeding within first hour of birth, but it was poor in relation to
unavailability of heat source and inadequate drying of newborn. Recommendations: Provision
of the needed supplies and items before each delivery and equipment (heat source) for provision of
recommended immediate newborn care.
