Helping mothers and babies survive
Preparing the lifesavers
Most maternal and newborn deaths can be prevented by well-trained healthcare providers. The Helping Mothers and Babies Survive programs have been designed to equip healthcare providers with the expertise and confidence to provide life-saving care to mothers and newborns before, during and after childbirth. All training materials are available as a global good on the online platform, hmbs.org.
The Helping Mothers and Babies Survive programs target the leading causes of maternal and newborn mortality, and the mother-newborn dyad
The programs
Helping Mothers and Babies Survive
The Helping Mothers and Babies Survive programs equip healthcare workers with the expertise and confidence to provide life-saving care to mothers and newborns during childbirth. The programs target the most common causes of maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity.
The programs use a hands-on, team-oriented, and facility-based approach to learning. The training materials are designed for small group instruction, ensuring personalized attention and a greater impact on skill acquisition and retention. The educational principles promote continuous learning through:
- Short, focused exercises using realistic simulators for practical skill-building.
- Encouraging collaboration and effective communication within healthcare teams.
- Individualized support with one facilitator for every 2-6 healthcare workers.
- Regular follow-up sessions at the facilities reinforce and sustain the skills learned.
Development and implementation
Global partnerships
For more than a decade, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Jhpiego, and Laerdal Global Health have partnered to develop the HMBS programs. The programs are informed by WHO recommendations.
Newborn Programs: Developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and in collaboration with American Academy of Pediatrics, and support from Laerdal Global Health.
Maternal Programs: Developed by Jhpiego, in collaboration with the International Confederation of Midwives, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, UNFPA, the International Council of Nurses, and support from Laerdal Global Health.
The Impact
More than one million trained
The program implementation has been spearheaded and reached widespread global implementation by the members of the Helping Babies Breathe Global Development Alliance and then the Survive & Thrive Global Development Alliance. Members include the American Academy of Pediatrics, US Agency for International Development (USAID), Save the Children, Latter-day Saint Charities, Laerdal Global Health, Johnson & Johnson, and a number of other global health partners. It is estimated more than one million birth attendants in more than 80 countries have been trained so far.
One more life saved per health worker per year
Studies have shown that when Helping Babies Breathe (now Essential Newborn Care 1) is well implemented, one trained birth attendant attending 100 deliveries per year can help save one additional life per year. The impact on survival rates is further enhanced with low-dose, high-frequency training and may be more effective in placed with higher number of annual births per birth attendant.
More Happy Birthdays
Widespread implementation of the Helping Mothers and Babies Survive programs has been achieved in Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Rwanda through the 50,000 Happy Birthdays initiative. This program, implemented by the national midwifery associations and the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), utilized a cascade model for facility-based training with continuous refresher trainings.
The concept was first introduced in 2014 when the midwifery associations in Malawi and Zambia, in collaboration with Laerdal and ICM, launched the pilot program 10,000 Happy Birthdays. These countries were facing high maternal mortality rates at the time. The program aimed to educate 10,000 birth attendants, with each trained attendant expected to contribute to saving at least one additional life every year.
The foundation for the Safer Births program
The Helping Mothers and Babies Survive programs are the foundation for the Safer Births Bundle of Care program in Tanzania, showing remarkable results of more than 40 % reduction in early newborn mortality and 70 % reduction in maternal mortality. Learn more here.
Simulation-Based Mentorship Project in Rural Nepal
In collaboration with the government of Nepal, One Heart Worldwide and Laerdal Global Health initiated a partnership aimed at enhancing maternal and newborn health in Nepal's remote areas. Leveraging the Helping Mothers and Babies Survive programs, this initiative incorporates a simulation-based mentorship approach to effectively reach underserved rural districts and elevate healthcare quality. Launched in June 2020, the program has successfully trained 774 nurse midwives, leading to substantial improvements in healthcare delivery. Due to these positive outcomes, the program has expanded from two to four districts, setting the stage for an anticipated national rollout.
informed by evidence
10 steps for best practice implementation
By 2015, a number of research studies had shown that the HMBS programs had a significant impact – and also that the impact was higher in some programs than others. To help spread best practice implementation and help partners implementing the HMBS programs achieve the very highest impact, the Laerdal Foundation supported an Utstein expert meeting leading to the identification of ten best practice principles for impactful implementation of the Helping Mothers and Babies Survive programs. See the 10 steps here.
