Nurses focus on infant mortality

A nurse in action during the open day
A nurse in action during the open day

Nurses in Dominica held a Customer Appreciation and Open Day at the Princess Margaret Hospital on Wednesday as part of their Nurses Week celebration.

The event focused on infant mortality which is a major concern that’s being addressed during the week of activities.

“We are focusing on promoting maternal health and combating HIV AIDS,” Principal Nurse, Ceasarina Ferrol, explained. “We are having various booths depicting the various stages of pregnancy and delivery. One of the millennium development goals is reduction of infant or child mortality and we have some concerns in that area in Dominica.”

She noted that the island’s infant mortality rate has increased “when it should be decreasing.”

“In terms of maternal health we have done very well.  Maternal care and infant mortality is very important in terms of the development of the country since the future of our country is our children,” she pointed out.

At present, Dominica is working towards reversing the trend of infant mortality. Infant mortality is the statistical rate of infant death during the first year after live birth and is expressed as the number of such births per 1,000 live births in a specific geographic area.

In 2012 the infant mortality rate in Dominica was 29 to every 1,000 births, according to statistics.

Acting minister of Health, Dr Collin McIntyr, told a forum on Tuesday that Dominica has currently embarked on project funded by the European Union which is expected to reduce infant mortality to 10 per 1,000 births by 2019.

A week-long training was also conducted in March by Dr. Orna Rosen and Dr. Robert Angert of the Division of Neonatology of the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, of Albert Einstein’s College of Medicine in the United States, which was geared at providing training to medical practitioners on neonatal and maternal care.

The week of activities will culminate on May 12 with International Nurses Day which is being observed under the theme,  “Closing the Gap…partnering to save lives of mothers and infants.”.

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5 Comments

  1. May 14, 2013

    :lol: see juwel in head

  2. Justice and Truth
    May 10, 2013

    Life, from conception to natural death. Babies are the future children who, one day will become adults. They are indeed the future of the country.
    From the moment mothers are pregnant the District Nurse should be notified who in turn with no hesitation should offer health advice to the mothers. Many of them need help such as also proper nutrition if they are to bring forth healthy children. Let the pregnant women know that they are carrying two of them – mother and baby. It takes money to feed the unborn and born so that the unborn will not be malnourished and also those that are born will not contract ‘malnutrition’ which is one of the causes of infant deaths. If I recall when I resided in DA, another cause was also ‘dysentery’.
    Therefore, Dr. McIntyre, district health nurses and hospital nurses take note. Educate women while pregnant and the mothers after their babies are born. Let there be more action and less talk. We do know that talk is cheap and this produces nothing. Let us hope with your new vision of reducing infant mortality that fewer babies or not one will die through negligence and that they will grow healthily.
    God bless the mothers and babies. God bless those in the medical field who are involved in taking care of the babies and mothers.

  3. Hmmm
    May 9, 2013

    If they were more vigilant at the hospital, infant mortality wouldn’t be so high. The nurses are not carrying the people’s babies. So when somebody comes and says this is what it is, listen to the person. They spent the 9 months with their child.
    Then again because nobody bothers to sue nobody in Dominica, you all can do these things.
    A damn shame. 29 in 2012. How many so far in 2013?

  4. Dr. Ben Haynes PsyD
    May 9, 2013

    Great move, and we hope that there will be much support for this program by both government and the wider community. The fact is, if we fail to grapple these issues now we will pay dearly in years to come. As l travel around the Caribbean one thing l have observed is that HIV-AIDS, diabetese and many preventable diseases are not taken seriously. Like infant mortality leadership is absent. Praise should be given to our brave nurses that understand that taking the bull by its horn will save lives, make a healthier society hence, a better quality of life for all citizens. Kudos to all our nurses & Happy Nurses’ week.

  5. Krazy
    May 9, 2013

    currently embarked on project funded by the European Union? what is that gonna do even if you have all the money and no training not gonna save babies.

    a week is not enough for training either, some nurses should really have a passion to be in area of expertise.
    Don;t take me wrong, there is some wonderful nurses who do a wonderful job and they love what they do in maternity care… i must give them thumps up :wink: :wink:

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