KMC - Kangaroo Mother Care
Kangaroo mother care is a method of care of preterm infants. The method involves infants being carried, usually by the mother, with skin-to-skin contact. This guide is intended for health professionals responsible for the care of low-birth-weight and preterm infants. Designed to be adapted to local conditions, it provides guidance on how to organize services at the referral level and on what is needed to provide effective kangaroo mother care. The guide includes practical advice on when and how the kangaroo-mother-care method can best be applied.
Some 20 million low-birth-weight (LBW) babies are born each year, because of either preterm birth or impaired prenatal growth, mostly in less developed countries. They contribute substantially to a high rate of neonatal mortality whose frequency and distribution correspond to those of poverty.1, 2 LBW and preterm birth are thus associated with high neonatal and infant mortality and morbidity.3, 4 Of the estimated 4 million neonatal deaths, preterm and LBW babies represent more than a fifth.5 Therefore, the care of such infants becomes a burden for health and social systems everywhere. In affluent societies the main contributor to LBW is preterm birth. The rate has been decreasing thanks to better socioeconomic conditions, lifestyles and nutrition, resulting in healthier pregnancies, and to modern neonatal care technology and highly specialised and skilled health workers. 6-8 In less developed countries high rates of LBW are due to preterm birth and impaired intrauterine growth, and their prevalence is decreasing slowly. Since causes and determinants remain largely unknown, effective interventions are limited. Moreover, modern technology is either not available or cannot be used properly, often due to the shortage of skilled staff. Incubators, for instance, where available, are often insufficient to meet local needs or are not adequately cleaned. Purchase of the equipment and spare parts, maintenance and repairs are difficult and costly; the power supply is intermittent, so the equipment does not work properly. Under such circumstances good care of preterm and LBW babies is difficult: hypothermia and nosocomial infections are frequent, aggravating the poor outcomes due to prematurity. Frequently and often unnecessarily, incubators separate babies from their mothers, depriving them of the necessary contact.
