Hospital to Home (H2H) is our flagship newborn follow-up programme supporting high-risk infants in the hospital and when they return home.
H2H addresses a critical gap. Babies born small and sick have an increased risk of complications after discharge. While babies are still in hospital, H2H strengthens discharge processes, provides comprehensive parent education, strengthens lactation and breastfeeding practices, and promotes care that encourages healthy brain development.
It also provides regular at-home follow-up support to these infants for six months after discharge. These follow-up visits are led by a network of community health workers (CHWs) who have received specialised training in the care of small and sick newborns. H2H sits in the ‘follow-up and early intervention’ arm of AdaraNewborn.
H2H shows improvements in
How does Hospital to Home work?
The hospital component includes:
Family-centred care
Lactation and breastfeeding education and support
Neurodevelopmentally supportive care
Cue-based feeding
Coordinated discharge process
Comprehensive family education
Set of discharge criteria
System for continuity of care between the hospital and the community
The home component includes:
Home visits from trained community health workers (CHWs) for six months
Child Development checks at 9 and 12 months
Health assessment and growth monitoring at each visit
Family support and education at each visit
Referral to health facility, when needed
Hospital to Home Outcomes Paper
Our Hospital to Home Outcomes paper has been published. The study demonstrated that H2H is feasible and acceptable in a rural Ugandan setting. Importantly, it found there were significant improvements in health outcomes including higher vaccination completion (88.5% vs. 76.9%) and exclusive breastfeeding rates (42% vs 6.6%).
Along with improved community perceptions on the survivability of high-risk newborns – it also demonstrated that health personnel, community health workers and caregivers in low- and middle-income countries can acquire the knowledge, confidence and skills to support small and sick newborns.
We will now take these learnings to continue to develop and expand the programme to ensure more newborns survive and thrive.
Hospital to Home Package
We launched a Hospital to Home package that will allow other organisations to roll out H2H in their own facilities and communities. It includes all necessary materials and instructions. It can be adapted by health professionals or leaders working in hospitals in low-resource settings worldwide who want to decrease the risk of preventable newborn deaths.
The package has been endorsed by the Uganda Ministry of Health who expressed the shared goal of wanting to see this programme scaled to other public facilities across the country.
Meet Esther and Sally
When baby Sally was born small and sick, her mother, Esther, feared she wouldn’t survive.
Fortunately, Sally was one of the first babies in our Hospital to Home newborn follow-up programme. She was admitted to the Kiwoko Hospital neonatal intensive care unit which provided her with the care she needed to grow and develop. After discharge, she then received at-home follow-up support from a designated community health worker.
Now Sally has not only survived – she’s also flourishing.
Hospital to Home Partners
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