Maternal, Newborn & Child Health
We’re on a mission to strengthen maternal, newborn and child health services in low-resource settings. And thanks to our generous supporters, we’re making progress every day.
We specialise in delivering high-quality healthcare to women, newborns and children at health facilities, in the community and at home. By working to upskill and equip facilities, we aim to reduce preventable maternal and newborn deaths. We do much of this work in partnership with Kiwoko Hospital in Central Uganda, which the Ugandan Ministry of Health recognises as a centre of excellence in newborn health.
With more than 24 years’ experience, we are now scaling our work to accelerate change across Uganda.
Centre of excellence
Together with Kiwoko Hospital, we have pioneered a holistic model of care to women, newborns and children in the facility and community. It encompasses nurse and midwife training; clinical support; and high standards of care across antenatal, postnatal, maternity and neonatal intensive care. We have a laser focus on resourcing and equipping facilities to ensure quality care.
AdaraNewborn
We have ambitious plans to expand the high-impact model we’ve established at Kiwoko Hospital to other Ugandan facilities. We call our model ‘AdaraNewborn’. It has five components: antenatal care, intrapartum care, inpatient care for small and sick newborns, postnatal care, and follow-up care and early intervention. We are piloting the foundations of this programme at Nakaseke Hospital, a government facility.
Bubble CPAP Kit
Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is a leading cause of death for babies born prematurely. To help these tiny babies breathe, we have teamed up with PATH, University of Washington, Seattle Children’s Hospital and Kiwoko Hospital to develop an innovative bubble continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) kit for babies suffering from RDS in low-resource settings. It could save hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide.
Hospital to Home
Our Hospital to Home (H2H) programme supports high-risk infants in the hospital and when they return home. H2H strengthens care to infants in a newborn unit through comprehensive education programmes and promotion of care that encourages good brain development. It also provides at-home follow-up support through a network of volunteer community health workers for up to a year after the baby’s birth.
Early intervention
In partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, we implemented and tested an early-intervention programme in Uganda. The programme, called Baby Ubuntu, improves quality of life for children at risk of disabilities and their caregivers. We are now implementing the programme and training others to deliver it in their communities.
Adara Youth Community Centre
Our Adara Youth Community Centre provides support to at-risk adolescents through counselling; sexual and reproductive health education and services, including family planning; life skills training; and connection with Kiwoko Hospital services. Our goal is to provide youth with support to lead happy and healthy lives.
Critical healthcare
We support at-risk communities in Central Uganda, including people living with HIV, diabetes, disabilities, epilepsy, mental health conditions and tuberculosis. By supporting Kiwoko Hospital’s HIV, Diabetes and Community Based Healthcare (CBHC) programmes, we ensure vulnerable groups have access to essential services. This work is critical during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meet Immaculate and Joseph
When Immaculate Nakku’s son Joseph was born small and sick, Immaculate realised how lucky she was to have access to a country-leading neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) that could save her son’s life.
Now Joseph is thriving.
Proving our impact
Inside our work
87%
survival rate for newborns cared for in the Kiwoko Hospital neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
889
infants enrolled in our Hospital to Home programme after leaving the Kiwoko Hospital NICU (97% received at least one follow up).
99.8%
maternal survival rate for women admitted to Kiwoko Hospital maternity ward.
96%
survival in the Nakaseke Hospital special care baby unit in 2021.
Explore some of our projects
AdaraNewborn
Since our beginning in 1998, we have developed a holistic model – called AdaraNewborn – for reducing newborn mortality in low-resource settings. We are now preparing to scale this model to save many more lives.
Hospital to Home
Our Hospital to Home programme is supporting newborns and their families in the neonatal intensive care unit and giving them the best chance to survive and thrive after discharge.
Hand in hand
Our Partners
Join us
…to bring quality health and education services to people living in some of the world’s remotest places.
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