Dr Isiye Ndombi, Deputy Regional Director, UNICEF East Asia Pacific Regional Office; and other esteemed colleagues from WHO and the United Nations family; the Asian Development Bank and local organizations; members of the media; ladies and gentlemen.
Good afternoon and welcome to the launch of the First Embrace campaign for Early Essential Newborn Care in the Western Pacific Region.
Many people don’t know that the First Embrace concept was born here in the Philippines in 2008, after an outbreak of neonatal sepsis.
That sad event gave us an opportunity to examine the way newborn care works in the Region. We saw that it often does not work well — often because of practices that are outdated or harmful.
We worked to find a way to stop the death toll of one newborn baby every two minutes in the Western Pacific Region.
After extensive research and consultation, we develop an action plan with UNICEF that can save more than 50 thousand newborn lives every year in the Region.
The First Embrace campaign spells out simple steps to ensure proper early essential newborn care — from sustained skin-to-skin contact between mother and child immediately after birth to the complete examination of the baby.
In many ways, First Embrace is a return to basics. No sophisticated or high-tech preparations are needed. The implementation uses existing health systems, making them stronger and more responsive.
WHO calls on all governments and other stakeholders, civil society, the media, academia — and most importantly — communities and families to support this life-saving effort.
Working together, we must ensure the health and well-being of newborn babies. Though small and fragile, they literally carry the hopes and strengths for the future of this great Region of more than 1.8 billion people.
Thank you.