Community-based Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC)

There is a high neonatal mortality rate in India, particularly in rural Uttar Pradesh, where newborns face significant risks from conditions such as prematurity and low birth weight. Over 640,000 newborns die annually in India, and many of these deaths could be prevented through evidence-based interventions. Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is one such intervention. KMC, which promotes skin-to-skin contact and exclusive breastfeeding, has been shown to reduce neonatal mortality by up to 54% when implemented alongside essential newborn care.

Our team's approach, co-led by Stanford University and Community Empowerment Lab (CEL) based in Uttar Pradesh, focuses on developing and evaluating a scalable model for community-based KMC. By co-designing solutions with local communities and healthcare providers and stakeholders, we aim to create a model that addresses the needs of vulnerable newborns in their homes and communities. The project will integrate local practices with scientific evidence to create a sustainable community-based KMC model that can be adapted across diverse settings.

To ensure the success of this initiative, we are leveraging systems dynamics to map the complexities of community-based newborn care. This approach will help identify key leverage points and optimize the implementation of the model, ensuring it is sustainable and scalable in the long term. Our team is poised to both design and evaluate the community-based KMC model, thereby contributing to a significant reduction in newborn mortality in vulnerable populations.