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 upskilling health workers, equipping facilities and strengthening the health system, we aim to reduce preventable maternal and newborn deaths.

With 25 years’ experience working in partnership with Kiwoko Hospital to develop a Centre of Excellence, we are now scaling our programmes to accelerate change across Uganda through AdaraNewborn.

AdaraNewborn

We are expanding our high impact model that has the power to halve newborn deaths and stillbirths across 10 facilities in Uganda over the next decade. It includes five arms of care: antenatal, intrapartum, inpatient care for small and sick newborns, postnatal, and follow-up and early intervention. AdaraNewborn will strengthen the health system by developing regional hubs of newborn care.

Centre of excellence

At the heart of AdaraNewborn is a holistic model of care to women, newborns and children that we pioneered with our partner, Kiwoko Hospital. This work has been recognised by Uganda’s Ministry of Health as a Centre of Excellence in the country. We are committed to maintaining Kiwoko as a Centre of Excellence by supporting the hospital’s programmes across the continuum of care.

Hospital to Home

Hospital to Home (H2H) is our flagship newborn follow-up programme supporting high-risk infants in the hospital and after going home. It strengthens care for infants in a neonatal unit through parent programmes and promotion of care that encourages brain development. It also provides regular at-home follow-up support after discharge through a network of community health workers. H2H sits in the ‘follow-up’ arm of AdaraNewborn.

Baby Ubtunu

Developed by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Baby Ubuntu is an early-intervention programme that aims to improve quality of life for children with mild to severe neurodisabilities and their caregivers. The programme includes a parent education training programme with 11 modules. Baby Ubuntu also sits in the ‘follow-up and early intervention’ arm of AdaraNewborn. 

Adara Youth Community Centre

The Adara Youth Community Centre provides support to adolescents through sexual and reproductive health education and services including family planning, counselling, life skills training, and connection with health services. It also provides community outreach, working closely with schools, parents and local leaders. These services are available to people aged 10 to 24. We aim to provide youth with support to lead happy and healthy lives.

Bubble CPAP Kit

Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is a leading cause of death for babies born prematurely. To help these tiny babies breathe, we teamed up with PATH, University of Washington, Seattle Children’s Hospital and Kiwoko Hospital to develop an innovative, low-cost bubble continuous positive airway pressure (bCPAP) kit for babies suffering from RDS in low-resource settings. It could save hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide.

Critical healthcare

We support vulnerable 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 these groups have access to essential services.

Meet Alice and Robinah

When Alice went into premature labour while sick with malaria, she worried whether her tiny daughter would survive. Fortunately, shortly after birth, Alice’s daughter – named Robinah – was admitted to Nakaseke Hospital, an AdaraNewborn facility. This meant it was equipped with the staff, facilities and supplies to provide her with quality care.

Now Robinah is thriving.

Proving our impact in 2022

Inside our work

86%

survival rate for newborns cared for in the Kiwoko Hospital neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

987

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.

98%

survival in the Nakaseke Hospital special care baby unit.

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.

add stories of impact to your inbox
Name(Required)
Child in Nepal