Paediatricians trained in neonatal resuscitation

The charity arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Ghana, in collaboration with the American Academy of Paediatrics, has organised a training workshop on neonatal resuscitation for over 100 health personnel from across the country.

The training brought together paediatricians, paediatric nurses and midwives from different hospitals in the country.

Birth asphyxia is a condition which refers to the failure to initiate and sustain breathing of the newborn at birth, and newborn resuscitation is the solution to the condition. 

In Ghana, skills required in the resuscitation of newborns need to be improved, as a lot of newborns die each year of breathing difficulties. 

The two-part training, which was also in conjunction with the Paediatric Society of Ghana, was first organised for 35 physicians.

  Newborn deaths
The lead trainer, Dr Isaac Ferguson, said many babies needed to be assisted to breathe normally at birth because such babies could die without assistance.

When resuscitation is effectively practised, it would help to decrease the country’s ratio on neonatal deaths.

He said resuscitation was not a common skill and practitioners needed to be trained to acquire it.

  Training format
The training encompassed  a series of lectures, tests and practical sessions.

Aside training the physicians, 70 nurses and midwives were also taken through a  “Helping Babies Breathe”  training programme with the aim of updating their skills to help in reducing the country’s neonatal mortality rate.

Each person who attended the training was instructed to train at least eight other people so that the training could reach as many people as possible and have a more effective impact.

Certificates of achievement were presented to all the participants. 

They were also presented with resuscitation equipment for their respective hospitals.

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