Newborn Health
According to the WHO (2022), concerted efforts should improve the quality of perinatal care. Global newborn mortalities account for approximately 47 percent of mortalities among children aged below five years (WHO, 2022). As such, more than 2.3 million newborn deaths are recorded annually. Approximately 33 percent of these deaths occur on the day of delivery, whereas more than 66 percent of the deaths are recorded within one week after delivery (WHO, 2022). Furthermore, more than two million stillbirths are reported annually (WHO, 2022). The high mortality rates are attributed to poor quality of postnatal care. The problem is prevalent in communities and regions with a low socio-economic status. It is worth noting that other than newborn deaths, more than 294,000 maternal deaths are reported annually (WHO, 2022).
Accordingly, the WHO developed an action plan to address this problem. This action plan has various recommendations that form the basis for policies for newborn health. For instance, it establishes strategies for improving care for preterm infants (WHO, 2022). Furthermore, it provides guidelines for enhancing the quality of maternal and newborn care (WHO, 2022). The action plan identifies and addresses existing knowledge gaps in newborn care by developing an elaborate care course (WHO, 2022). Also, the plan emphasizes research in maternal and perinatal care.
Position on the Planetary Health Topic
I believe that newborn health is a problem of concern that should be prioritized and addressed. As aforementioned, more than two million newborn deaths are reported annually (WHO, 2022). These deaths are attributed to three main factors. Firstly, preterm infants are likely to have complications that increase their mortality rates. For instance, preterm infants are likely to have respiratory difficulties due to immature lungs (Cheong et al., 2020). Therefore, infants require quality intensive nursery care to minimize mortalities (Cheong et al., 2020). Secondly, intrapartum complications increase the risk of newborn deaths. Examples of these complications include pre-eclampsia, intrapartum hemorrhage, and prolonged labor (Spiers et al., 2022). Intrapartum complications are also caused by maternal factors such as uterine rupture and placental abruption (WHO, 2022). Thirdly, neonatal infections increase the risk of newborn deaths. These infections account for more than 500,000 neonatal mortalities annually (WHO, n.d.).
Newborn deaths can be mitigated by formulating policies that address the three major etiological factors. Firstly, prematurity-related complications can be mitigated by availing and increasing the quality of newborn intensive care (WHO, 2022). Nurses are key interdisciplinary team members involved in providing newborn intensive care. Secondly, intrapartum complications can be mitigated by increasing the quality of maternal care. In this context, holistic care should be provided. Nurses and other healthcare providers should be equipped with pertinent knowledge of maternal care. Finally, neonatal infections can be mitigated by increasing postnatal care quality. This entails close follow-up, timely diagnosis, and health promotion.
The Nurse’s Social Responsibility
Nurses are socially responsible to patients and their families, colleagues, and interdisciplinary team members. In the context of patients and their families, nurses should respect patients’ rights by upholding ethical principles and adopting a holistic care approach (Jazi et al., 2019). Nurses should uphold a non-discriminatory approach when providing perinatal care to patients. They should embrace autonomy, beneficence, and non-maleficence. Furthermore, they should uphold cultural congruence. Regarding their colleagues, nurses should uphold transparency, accountability, and professionalism in their interactions (Jazi et al., 2019). They should acknowledge the strengths of other nurses to allow information sharing. Finally, regarding interdisciplinary team members, nurses should establish positive relationships with other healthcare providers, respect and acknowledge their specialties, and adhere to organizational rules and regulations (Jazi et al., 2019). Positive interdisciplinary relationships facilitate information sharing, research, and evidence-based practice.
Organizations Interested in Newborn Health
Various organizations are dedicated to reducing newborn and maternal mortalities in the USA and globally. Examples of these organizations include Every Mother Counts, Postpartum Support International, and Hayes Foundation (Brusie, 2022). Hayes Foundation focuses on the prevention of sudden infant death syndrome by educating parents on the condition (Brusie, 2022). Every Mother Count focuses on preventing maternal complications that contribute to maternal and newborn mortalities. Lastly, Postpartum Support International aims to address perinatal and postnatal maternal mental health disorders (Brusie, 2022).
Significance of an Interdisciplinary Approach
An interdisciplinary approach should be embraced to improve newborn health. The interdisciplinary team comprises nurses and members, such as physicians and pharmacists, administrators, local and national governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and donors. Nurses and interdisciplinary team members should collaborate to achieve evidence-based practice and increase the quality of healthcare services. Hospital administrators should oversee the formulation of organizational policies and standard procedures to improve the quality of newborn and maternal care. The local and national governments should ensure that healthcare facilities are equipped with pertinent resources to provide quality healthcare services. NGOs and donors play a key role by providing pertinent resources to improve the quality of maternal and newborn care.
Implications of the Chosen Healthcare Policy
The future of nursing practice will transform to optimize newborn health. Firstly, nurses will be required to research perinatal and maternal health. This will enable them to adopt the best evidence-based approaches to improve the quality of care for this population. Secondly, nurses will embrace continuous education by completing newborn care courses to optimize the quality of service delivery. Thirdly, nurses will be required to embrace interdisciplinary collaboration to achieve care coordination. Care coordination will increase accountability by ensuring that unique tasks are assigned to the interdisciplinary team members. As such, the quality of newborn care will increase.
Conclusion
The WHO developed an elaborate action plan to improve newborn health. The action plan focuses on research, continuous education, and the improvement of newborn health. I believe that newborn health is a problem that should be prioritized and addressed. Emphasis should be channeled toward mitigating intrapartum complications, neonatal infections, and prematurity-associated complications. An interdisciplinary approach should be adopted to increase the quality of newborn health. Also, nurses will be required to engage in research and embrace interdisciplinary collaboration to improve the quality of newborn care.
References
Brusie, C. (2022). Leading Maternal & Infant Health Organizations. https://www.verywellfamily.com/leading-infant-and-maternal-health-charities-and-organizations-4146549
Cheong, J. L. Y., Burnett, A. C., Treyvaud, K., & Spittle, A. J. (2020). Early environment and long-term outcomes of preterm infants. Journal of Neural Transmission, 127(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-019-02121-w
Jazi, Z. H., Peyrovi, H., & Zareian, A. (2019). Nurse’s social responsibility: A hybrid concept analysis in Iran. Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 33(1). https://doi.org/10.34171/mjiri.33.44
Spiers, A., Legendre, G., Biquard, F., Descamps, P., & Corroenne, R. (2022). Ex Utero Intrapartum Technique (EXIT): Indications, procedure methods, and materno-fetal complications–A literature review. Journal of Gynecology Obstetrics and Human Reproduction, 51(1), 102252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2019.07.032
WHO. (2020). Newborn health. https://www.who.int/health-topics/newborn-health#tab=tab_2
WHO. (n.d.). Newborn infections. https://www.who.int/teams/maternal-newborn-child-adolescent-health-and-ageing/newborn-health/newborn-infections#:~:text=Neonatal%20infections%20are%20primarily%20bacterial,000%20neonatal%20deaths%20every%20year.
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Question 
For this assignment, you will write a position paper in which you will choose and support one of the four healthcare policy issues below. You should approach this assignment from the perspective of your specialty track: Mental health.
Newborn Health
You will use the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and World Health Organization (WHO) websites to guide you on planetary healthcare policies related to one of the topics below.
Newborn Health
Chemical Safety
Human Trafficking
Oral Health