About PEDGEN
Supporting Child Health & Family Well-Being
Paediatricians must be concerned not only with particular organ systems and biologic processes, but also with environmental, social and political influences that significantly impact the health and well-being of children and their families.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents now visit health care facilities less frequently and health professionals also limit interactions by prioritizing essential services. As a result, health education and counselling that require adequate time may sometimes be compromised.
Keeping this in mind, the PEDGEN team feels a strong responsibility to support families by providing reliable health information that can guide parents and caregivers. This information is meant to help families significantly, but it does not replace the role of health professionals in person.
Children cannot advocate for themselves. Paediatricians must therefore act as advocates for every child, regardless of culture, religion, gender, race or ethnicity, and beyond all local, state, or national boundaries.
Hence we have endeavoured to keep the health of the baby well our first priority. PEDGEN team also feels the responsibility to help India achieve the goal of Single Digit Neonatal Mortality Rate by 2030 by targeting on preventable newborn deaths by empowering the mother, family, community as a whole and providing them the knowledge particularly regarding those babies that are born too soon and too small as they constitute the majority of neonatal deaths. The more politically, economically or socially disenfranchised a population or a nation is, the greater the need for advocacy for children. The young often among the most vulnerable or disadvantaged in society and their needs special attention. So, we aspire to empower every mother and family the basic knowledge of newborn care. We want every mother to start the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), not restricted to Low Birth Weight baby but also to normal weighing baby because KMC is a beneficial tool to initiate breastfeeding and its continuation and adequacy. Many families in the first week of delivery land up buying milk powder container and take artificial formula feed for granted and project it as a shield for solution for each cry of baby disapproving the importance of breastfeeding and paradoxically harming the newborn.
Efforts to control infection among children should be complemented by better understanding of nutrition. So, we highly recommended all caregivers handwashing as it is one of the best ways to protect the baby from infection and breastfeed all the newborn as breastfeeding is the best nutrition a baby can have. Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) are largely credited with the reduction of diarrheal death. So has the potential of KMC in reducing the neonatal mortality rate. Give the mother a chance in the Low-Birth-Weight baby care till the baby attains 2500 grams and for normal baby care for 2 weeks of life till the breastfeeding is established. KMC is an innovation in addressing newborn health and survival in low cost setting. KMC provides standard care as good as of incubators. We want to empower mother with the evidence-based interventions and innovation to address newborn health and undernutrition. Being born small, because of preterm birth or small for gestational age (SGA) or both is the leading risk factor for neonatal deaths and carries increased risk for post neonatal mortality, growth failure and adult onset non communicable conditions. Preterm births, especially those 32 week are at highest risk of neonatal death, with ongoing post neonatal mortality risk, significant risk of long-term neurodevelopmental impairment, and stunting, as well as noncommunicable conditions. We intend to provide information for improving health of these babies.
