Ghana Neonatal Network Support System

The end of the year is usually a period of excitement. The Christmas festivities end up with people happily planning their activities for the coming year.It should be even more joyful if a family has a newborn around this time.For two families,this excitement was nearly marred.

On the 31st of December, a call came through to NNSS office from the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital with a referral case of 14 days old baby named Baby Naomi who was suffering from a heart defect and a 12 hours of life baby named Baby Diana who was also suffering from a total abdominal wall defect to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi.

This referral,covering a distance of nearly 550 km by road was necessary because not all facilities in the country have the capacity to deal with such complex situations.

They called the ambulance but at the arrival of the ambulance, the parents of both babies could not afford the amount for the transportation the ambulance charged.

Not many families in Africa are in the position to incur a cost of nearly $300 just for the transport of their newborn baby.It appeared the fate of these babies was sealed. Someone had to act…and act fast.

So with the core mandate and the aim and objectives for the
establishment of NNSS Ghana and the Olsson grant, a grant set up by NNSS Ghana to support needy babies in time of emergency and with the help of other partners the bill was settled and immediately the ambulance took off to Kumasi. Communication was further enhanced as both the Bolgatanga hospital and the Komfo Anokye Hospital are connected to our network.

A follow up was made by NNSS Ghana to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital to check on the condition of the babies and God being so good, Baby Naomi was in a stable condition whiles Baby Diana was at the theatre for surgery at the time of our visit. It is our prayer that both babies survive.

We at NNSS Ghana wish to congratulate the doctors and nurses of KATH for the good work they are doing for our babies.

The feasibility and sustainability of paying such huge amounts may be questioned in some quarters.We agree on the need to build sustainable schemes.But we believe no investment is wasted if it is made for a newborn.We are grateful to Mr Anders Olsson for funding our work and helping save these wonderful babies.

Our babies deserve to live for we do not know what they will become tomorrow. Save a baby today. Send “Donate” to Tigo short code 5434 (in Ghana only)and contribute Ghc 1 to save a life of a baby. It’s your duty, it’s my duty and it’s our duty to save our babies.

# NNSS Ghana: Ensuring newborn survival.
(We are unable to upload the children of the babies since they are very ,very sensitive pictures)

Sitting by this computer half awake, I cannot help but reflect on the events of the past week.
It was indeed an awesome time at the Prototype Change Summit in Stockholm, Sweden.
Group 6 comprised members from 5 different countries working together and translating from English to French and Vice Versa. Drawing from the immense ingenuity of our friends Andrey, Stina and Albert we finally created a prototype to improve children’s health!

It was a real marathon and after 48 hours straight of brainstorming it was only natural to feel exhausted.But that was not to be the case. We found ourselves feeling energized to do more. And so right from the Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, through Istanbul to Accra, we could not help but keep thinking of ways to make the prototype a reality.

Back home in Ghana,we are doing our best to keep the momentum.Yesterday we interacted with nurses at the Regional Health Administration in Tamale.Our purpose?….To try and streamline activities toward a common goal of saving newborns.We have since received contacts of public health nurses in the districts we intend to operate our mobile solutions. Simultaneously, we spent the evening of yesterday briefing our friends of Newborns Group about the prototype change summit.

Yes. The fact that I am largely sleepy as I type is undeniable. Sometimes I wonder how sleep can be put on hold.It does appear that passion and zeal may be able to keep heavy eyelids apart until the target is reached.

We were honoured to be part of the Prototype Change Summit in Stockholm last week.Working together with ICT experts and our colleague Didier from Chad,we successfully developed a mobile-based prototype to improve children’s health.

We are grateful to Reach for Change for the Opportunity and look forward to making it count!

In our work we continually try to seek digital ways to solve problems for newborns.We continually engage all stakeholders to help come out with efficient solutions.Over the past week we have been speaking with Voto mobile concerning an IVR solution.We also met up with Mr David Hutchful of the Grameen foundation and later took part in the Tigo Digital Changemakers Launch.It’s been a great week thus far.

We take a slight detour from our main posting themes and take you along into our thoughts.There’s a lot happening in the background and the prospects are great.Come on,let’s share a few with you.

Our call centre is set to get a major boost.We hope to have a short code for our partners to dial into very soon. Once that is done we are looking to get an automated Interactive Voice Response Service(IVR) very very soon.The initial estimates for the IVR look huge but we are not discouraged! Later today,we are hoping to meet with a representative from Voto mobile to further discuss the IVR platform.We also hope to discuss the issue with a rep from the Grameen Foundation.

We are also looking to deploy a short code soon to help us mobilize some finances.This will function as a premium rate texting service which our well wishers can text into to donate.

Our interactions with students at Agogo in Ashanti region look very promising.We are hopeful of launching at least 2 more friends of newborns groups to bring the number of active groups to 5.

Our Medical center Project has delayed due to delays on the part of our landlord to complete the building.In the next couple of weeks, we are sure to conclude on a deal to take over the building and fast track events.

we are keeping our fingers crossed.It sure looks good!

In the past few weeks we have seen tremendous increase in the number of people joining our friends of newborns group.At the time of this post(2230 GMT) the number stands at close to seventy(70) across all three institutions we have members in.

Over the last few days, we have embarked on an adventure to stimulate many more to join our cause.We hope to do this with our wonderful friends taking a bold step into the community. A number of facilities have been adopted by our friends and we are in the process of getting the posters out?

The purpose? Why posters? Well, we want to challenge the ordinary Ghanaian that anyone at all can be a champion for newborn health.All it takes is MAKING THE DECISION to do so.

Our designs(done in house) may not be excellent but we are working with it anyway.Our printouts were ready a few hours ago.Look out for the posters displayed by NEXT WEEK

For us at the NNSS,being a change leader requires one to been keen on identifying opportunities.
Thus we did not waste anytime capitalizing on our journey from Tamale to Kumasi to stop over in the Brong Ahafo Region. We took the time to conduct a cursory assessment and make a few contacts regarding our expansion plan. We stopped over at the Kintampo Municipal Hospital and the Holy Family Hospital in Techiman and had really positive responses.