SICHUAN
NEONATAL RESUSCITATION PROGRAM: A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT OF AMERICAN ACADEMY
OF PEDIATRICS (AAP) ¨C HEART TO HEART (H2H) AND MINISTRY OF HEALTH, SICHUAN,
PRC
Robinson, B, Xijie, Zhao, ChangdU, Sichuan, China
Birth asphyxia
(BA) continues to be a major contributor to the high neonatal and infant
mortality rates in Sichuan Province in the PRC. Sichuan, with a population of 90 million and a birth
rate of 1.2%, has a BA of 3-4% of all births. Recognizing the disease burden of BA and its consequences
on later outcome, Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) was introduced
through the collaboration of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP),
Heart to Heart (H2H) which is a U.S.-based non-profit organization, and the
cooperation of the Department of Health of Sichuan Province. In May 2000, a
team of NRP trainers from the USA (12 M.D.s and R.N.s) conducted the
two-day training program at three major cities: Luzhou, Nanchang and Minnyang. A total of 90 professionals from the three cities were
trained. On the third day, the
new trainers were asked to ¡°train¡± an additional 60 trainers in the Chinese
language under the supervision of the U.S. team
Upon completion
of 3 day sessions, each training center was provided with educational
material, mannequins and ambu bags for conducting training. Each participant was given an Ambu
bag and face masks for use at their hospital(s) and resuscitation training
centers were left open to conduct NRP on an ongoing basis. A total of 254
health professionals at the three sites were trained in NRP the first
year. Following the success of
the program and the enthusiasm of the Department of Health in Sichuan
Province, AAP and H2H sent a second team of trainers from the U.S.A. in May
2001 to conduct NRP at four cities (the three previous cities and a new one
at Changdu, capital of Sichuan Province). During this program, 179 health professionals from 113
hospitals completed NRP training.
Four new cities will be added as NRP training centers in the year
2002. It is planned that by
2005 all hospitals in Sichuan will have NRP trained personnel
The impact of
NRP on the resuscitation practices of health professionals at their
respective hospitals is being assessed. Nevertheless, introduction of NRP has heightened the
awareness of the problem of BA and its management. Because of the cooperation and
participation of the many doctors and nurses at all the participating
hospitals of Sichuan, the trilateral collaboration of AAP, H2H and the
Sichuan Ministry of Health, THIS PROGRAM IS A UNIQUE MODEL FOR TRANSFER OF
TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUE TO A DEVELOPING COUNTRY AT VERY LOW COST.