NICHE International is a small medical education charity working in low and-middle income countries to reduce the number of babies who die or suffer significant morbidity in the first month of their lives. 

In many African countries, ten times as many newborn babies die as in Western countries. This grant will enable experienced UK neonatal doctors and nurses to volunteer to share their skills with health care workers in Uganda, by teaching a 2.5 day course in basic newborn care. The course covers critical areas such as basic hygiene, keeping babies warm, early breast feeding, resuscitation at birth, and recognition and treatment of infection.   

To embed the training at local level, 24 participants will be also trained as instructors. Each nurse or midwife trained is likely to look after 500 – 1,000 babies each year. As the trained local instructors start to run their own courses, their shared knowledge and skills will inform many more practitioners, enhancing vital support for many more mothers and babies in the years to come.