The VinaCapital Foundation (VCF) and United International Pharma Co., Ltd., on Saturday launched the first session of the new nationwide International Symposium for Neonatal Care.

Attendees in Ho Chi Minh City from Nhi Dong II, Saigon International and Tu Vu hospitals., Photo: File Photo by VCF

It is part of VCF’s Survive to Thrive program that works to reduce neonatal mortality in central Vietnam.

Survive to Thrive consists of constructing and equipping the new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Da Nang Women’s and Children’s Hospital as well as training the doctors and nurses in the central region on international-standard treatment protocols for infants.

This first telemedicine session will focus on the following topics critical to the survival of any baby including Neonatal Resuscitation, Seizures in the NICU, Adaptation after Birth and How to Identify Perinatal Risk Factors, and Case Presentation on Seizures.

The lead lecturer for the series is world-renowned neonatologist and longtime VCF training partner, Dr. Steven Ringer of Harvard Medical School and the Chief of Newborn Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Other presenters include Dr. Khu Thi Khanh Dung, Vice Director and Chief of Neonatal Department at National Hospital of Pediatrics based in Hanoi and a case study presented by Dr. Truong Thi Nhu Huyen, Chief of the Neonatal Department at Da Nang Woman and Children’s Hospital.

VCF partners with the World Bank Global Development Learning Network and uses their group of videoconferencing sites to broadcast the interactive sessions to doctors in developing countries.

This first neonatal symposium will include an interactive broadcast to doctors in the following locations: Can Tho, Da Nang, Hue, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi in Vietnam; and Manila in Philippines.

The session will also be available as a worldwide live webcast so that any doctor around the world can log in and join during the lecture.

"Telemedicine education in partnership with VinaCapital Foundation, the Ministry of Health and the Medical Community is supported by United International Pharma as an expression of our company’s commitment to the Vietnamese to improve health care at multiple levels of society," says Benny Caleda, director of the United International Pharma Country.

Reducing infant mortality is a priority for Vietnam and the imperative to address maternal health and infant mortality is a key element of the national health strategy.

The development of the Department of Pediatrics at the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital is a central element of Da Nang’s strategy to reduce infant mortality in the region.

The critical area for improvement is neonatal care, which requires highly-trained and specialized doctors and nurses, a controlled environment suitable for critically ill babies and expensive equipment.

Survive to Thrive is a key initiative in achieving goals, in particular training programs like the International Symposium for Neonatal Care, giving the doctors and other health care providers the necessary knowledge and tools to save newborns’ lives and reduce the neonatal mortality rate.

“All children in Vietnam deserve a chance to survive those first critical days. We are honored to have Dr. Ringer, who has traveled to Vietnam over 20 times to train neonatology doctors and nurses here as a partner for this program,” states Robin King Austin, CEO of VinaCapital Foundation, a NGO founded in 2006 to improve the lives of poor children in Vietnam through health and education projects.

Source: Tuoitrenews