ArticleBMJ global health2021
Small and sick newborn care during the COVID-19 pandemic: global survey and thematic analysis of healthcare providers' voices and experiences.
Article in BMJ global health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 128 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Health interventions and stakeholder roles in neonatal mortality reduction within low-income countries: A scoping review.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2026Review
- Observations, Beliefs & Science Among Obstetricians on Kangaroo Mother Care in India.Maternal-fetal medicine (Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.) · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Perinatal mortality and other severe adverse outcomes following planned birth at 39 weeks versus expectant management in low-risk women: a population based cohort study.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Maintaining operability at a high personal cost - a mixed method study on maternal healthcare workers' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Effects of kangaroo mother care restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic on feeding and physiological parameters in preterm neonates: a cohort study.Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira (1992) · 2025Article
- Community-based postnatal care model: Catalyst for management of mothers and neonates.Curationis · 2024Article
- Perspectives and experiences of healthcare providers on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in three maternal and neonatal referral hospitals in Guinea in 2020: a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on culture-proven sepsis in neonates.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Article
- Providing optimal care in the neonatal care units in India: How Covid-19 exacerbated existing barriers.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Protecting small and sick newborn care in the COVID-19 pandemic: multi-stakeholder qualitative data from four African countries with NEST360.BMC pediatrics · 2023Article
- Perinatal care and breastfeeding education during the COVID-19 pandemic: Perspectives from Kenyan mothers and healthcare workers.Maternal & child nutrition · 2023Article
- Changes in moderately low birthweight infant feeding, care, and health outcomes before compared to during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi.Journal of global health · 2023Observational
- The Effect of Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection on Neonatal Outcome.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- How COVID-19 affected food systems, health service delivery and maternal and infant nutrition practices: Implications for moving forward in Kenya.Maternal & child nutrition · 2023Article
- Antibiotic dispensing practices during COVID-19 and implications for antimicrobial resistance (AMR): parallel mystery client studies in Uganda and Tanzania.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2023Article
- Infant mortality and growth failure after oral azithromycin among low birthweight and underweight neonates: A subgroup analysis of a randomized controlled trial.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Provision and utilization of maternal health services during the COVID-19 pandemic in 16 hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa.Frontiers in global women's health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
32 authors at 20 institutions in 11 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionThe COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting health systems globally. Maternity care disruptions have been surveyed, but not those related to vulnerable small newborns. We aimed to survey reported disruptions to small and sick newborn care worldwide and undertake thematic analysis of healthcare providers' experiences and proposed mitigation strategies.
methodsUsing a widely disseminated online survey in three languages, we reached out to neonatal healthcare providers. We collected data on COVID-19 preparedness, effects on health personnel and on newborn care services, including kangaroo mother care (KMC), as well as disruptors and solutions.
resultsWe analysed 1120 responses from 62 countries, mainly low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Preparedness for COVID-19 was suboptimal in terms of guidelines and availability of personal protective equipment. One-third reported routine testing of all pregnant women, but 13% had no testing capacity at all. More than 85% of health personnel feared for their own health and 89% had increased stress. Newborn care practices were disrupted both due to reduced care-seeking and a compromised workforce. More than half reported that evidence-based interventions such as KMC were discontinued or discouraged. Separation of the mother-baby dyad was reported for both COVID-positive mothers (50%) and those with unknown status (16%). Follow-up care was disrupted primarily due to families' fear of visiting hospitals (~73%).
conclusionNewborn care providers are stressed and there is lack clarity and guidelines regarding care of small newborns during the pandemic. There is an urgent need to protect life-saving interventions, such as KMC, threatened by the pandemic, and to be ready to recover and build back better.
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Registered trials
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