World Health Organization (WHO) Reports Findings in Managed Care (Assessing the neonatal health policy landscape in low- and middle-income countries: Findings from the 2018 WHO SRMNCAH policy survey): Managed Care

2023 MAR 21 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Managed Care is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Geneva, Switzerland, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “We aimed to describe the availability of newborn health policies across the continuum of care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and to assess the relationship between the availability of newborn health policies and their achievement of global Sustainable Development Goal and Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) neonatal mortality and stillbirth rate targets in 2019. We used data from World Health Organization’s 2018-2019 sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (SRMNCAH) Policy Survey and extracted key newborn health service delivery and cross-cutting health systems policies that align with the WHO health system building blocks.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from World Health Organization (WHO), “We constructed composite measures to represent packages of newborn health policies for five components along the continuum of care: antenatal care (ANC), childbirth, postnatal care (PNC), essential newborn care (ENC), and management of small and sick newborns (SSNB). We used descriptive analyses to present the differences in the availability of newborn health service delivery policies by World Bank income group in 113 LMICs. We employed logistic regression analysis to assess the relationship between the availability of each composite newborn health policy package and achievement of global neonatal mortality and stillbirth rate targets by 2019. In 2018, most LMICs had existing policies regarding newborn health across the continuum of care. However, policy specifications varied widely. While the availability of the ANC, childbirth, PNC, and ENC policy packages was not associated with having achieved global NMR targets by 2019, LMICs with existing policy packages on the management of SSNB were 4.4 times more likely to have reached the global NMR target (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 4.40; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.09-17.79) after controlling for income group and supporting health systems policies. Given the current trajectory of neonatal mortality in LMICs, there is a dire need for supportive health systems and policy environments for newborn health across the continuum of care.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Adoption and implementation of evidence-informed newborn health policies will be a crucial step in putting LMICs on track to meet global newborn and stillbirth targets by 2030.”

For more information on this research see: Assessing the neonatal health policy landscape in low- and middle-income countries: Findings from the 2018 WHO SRMNCAH policy survey. Journal of Global Health, 2023;13:04024. Journal of Global Health can be contacted at: Int Soc Global Health, Caledonian Exchange, 19A Canning St, Edinburgh, Lothian, England.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Blerta Maliqi, Dept. of Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health and Ageing, World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland. Additional authors for this research include Meighan Mary, Elizabeth K. Stierman, Martin Aj Dohlsten, Allisyn C. Moran, Elizabeth Katwan and Andreea A. Creanga.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.13.04024. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the Journal of Global Health is: Int Soc Global Health, Caledonian Exchange, 19A Canning St, Edinburgh, Lothian, England.

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