National Newborn Week

Tags: Important Days

In India, National Newborn Week is celebrated every year from 15 to 21 November.

Important facts

• The theme of this week is 'Safety, Quality and Nurturing Care - Every Newborn's Birth Right'.

• This week aims to reinforce the importance of neonatal health as a priority area of the health sector and reduce infant mortality by improving health care conditions for infants in the neonatal period.

• The main purpose of celebrating this week is to raise awareness about the care of newborn babies.

• The period of a child's neonatal period (the first twenty-eight days of life) is critical, as this period carries a higher risk of death than any other period during childhood.

• According to government statistics, every year 2.6 million babies die in the first week and in addition 2.6 million babies are stillborn every year.

• Prematurity, complications during birth and severe infections are the major causes of neonatal death.