Valeria Serratos

RWS 1301
Neonatal health
An editorial by Valerie Serratos
Along the course of this semester my research was based on neonatal health, its conflicts,
and what should be done to help it. Neonatal health has always existed, however it was not
always recognized as a main issue to be concerned about. My decision to cover this topic was
based on my interest toward Nursing. Nursing has a lot of branches towards what you want to
do, my main interest is in the newborns and helping sick or premature babies get to a healthier
state. The neonatal unit consists with the health of babies, it varies from hygiene, to taking the
vitals, to incubations for months at times. Hospital care for children: Guidelines and
management of common childhood illnesses discusses how neonatal care was not taken in much
consideration by the government, agencies, and organizations before, however millions of
newborns deaths brought the attention to these initiatives. The initiative was raised in 2000 to
improve newborns health and survival, the major causes for deaths were : Birth asphyxia,
infections, and complications (Lawn et al. 2005). The objectives in this article was to strengthen
the practices on mothers and babies, adapting programmers, advancing state-of-art, influencing
commitment and resources, and obtaining strategic partnerships. (Marsh et al. 2002). The
importance of the article discussed above is that it shows after a dramatic death rate people
started taking initiatives and having more concerns on the neonatal health unit and their deaths
also this article also gave an importance to me because helping babies was not as important as
other health units and its devastating how millions of deaths had to occur before taking any

action. In my opinion providing more attention to that unit is important since it will better the
jobs for nurses, save more lives, and advance techniques and knowledge in neonatal health. My
purpose for writing this op-ed piece is to pursue more people to get informed of what can be
done to help prevent premature babies. Nurses are required all over however with the neonatal
health unit being more packed, jobs for nurses will be open up, this is important to raise the
health and care of babies, with more nurses to take care of newborns the less conflicts of
attending more than one baby at a time will be reduced. Moreover if new procedures can be
innovated with the help of more donations, and fundings from the government will increase the
probability of a safer environment for babies, more advanced tools and medicine distribution to
more babies and mothers. If you or any loved one has had a child you know the importance of
knowing your baby is in a good environment with high care. Dont let the neonatal unit be
pushed off to the side anymore speak up, donate, and help raise awareness in the importance of
taking preventions concerning the health of you and your baby. You have the opportunity to
increase awareness towards neonatal health and help the medical field get stronger.Make a
donation and build futures now at www.unicefusa.org.living

References:
(2013), Hospital care for children: Guidelines and management of common childhood illnesses
(2nd Ed.) Geneva World Health Organization.