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Manipal : Department of Child Health Nursing, Manipal College of Nursing in collaboration with Department of Paediatric, Kasturba Medical College, MAHE Manipal observed the World Prematurity Day with activities between November 11 and 18, 2019. The aim was to create awareness among staff nurses and mothers of premature babies.

As every year, more than one in ten babies are born much before time, the World Prematurity Day is observed worldwide on November 17. MCON used the occasion to inform nurses and mothers about the existing situation. Different sessions were conducted by Dr Leslie Lewis, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, KMC, Manipal, MrsYashodha and MrsBinu Margaret, Assistant Professor, Department of Child Health Nursing, MCON.

Dr Leslie spoke on this year’s theme, “Born Too Soon: Providing the right care, at the right time, in the right place”. He emphasized on high quality care for intact survival of extremely premature infants and blend of technology with humanized care promotes optimum growth and development of the premature babies. MrsYashoda and MrsBinu Margaret briefed about the comprehensive care for the premature babies at hospital and home for staff nurses and mothers respectively.

A NeoRaksha App was created with financial support from Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. The app is developed as an intervention for empowering parents of premature infants with an aim to support the growth and development of premature infants as well as to connect mothers with community health workers (ASHA) and health care professionals at the hospital.

An interactive session was held between mothers of premature babies who were discharged and new mothers at hospital and the health care professionals on November 18, 2019. “The App is very useful. It enabled me to monitor the growth and developmental milestones of the baby at home, connect to the health care professionals to clarify any doubts and get immunization and follow-up alerts,” a mother said.

Dr Sulatha V Bhandary, Head of Department of Ophthalmology, stressed on follow up and screening of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) as it is vital for early detection and treatment. Dr Judith Noronha, Associate Dean, Dr Baby S Nayak, Head of Department of Child Health Nursing, Dr Jayashree, Dr ApurvBarche and faculty members from Manipal College of Nursing and Pediatrics department were also present.