Periviable Birth – The Ethical Conundrum

When delivery is anticipated near the limit of viability, both the family and the caregiver are faced with many complex and ethicallychallenging decisions. It must be remembered that the decisions that are made are going to impact the entire life of the baby and thefamily. Such decisions should be based on the best available evidence about the prognosis for the infant. If the chance of mortality andserious morbidity for an infant is high (but not too high), parental discretion around provision of life-sustaining treatment is appropriate. Inthis article, we discuss issues on survival and outcomes of extremely premature infants, and the available guidelines

Evaluation of Knowledge and Skills of Home Based Newborn Care among Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA).

Objective: We assessed the knowledge level and skills of trained ASHAs in providing home-based newborn care. Methods: 100 ASHA from two talukas of Anand district of Gujarat participated. Knowledge was assessed using a structured questionnaire while certain skills were assessed through direct observation on mannequins. Results: The mean (SD) knowledge score of the participants was 16.7(3.16) out of 34. The skills were satisfactory in 52%, 61%, 43%, and 68% of ASHA workers for temperature measurement, hand washing, weight measurement and skin-to-skin care, respectively. Large variability was observed in self–reported and field performance of ASHA workers. Conclusions: Knowledge and skills of Asha workers in this region were inadequate.