[Using anthropology to improve newborn health care in Cameroon]. / Une anthropologie impliquée pour améliorer les soins aux nouveau-nés au Cameroun.

INTRODUCTION: Policy directions in the health sector are based on research which provides insight into implemented actions and helps to formulate improvement recommendations for health. In Cameroon, an innovative experience of anthropological research on newborn health was followed by a process of appropriating findings by the Ministry of Public Health aiming at improving the quality of care. We suggest reporting this Cameroonian experience of interdisciplinary collaboration and involved research. METHOD: Coinciding with the anthropological study on newborn care in hospital maternities and at home conducted by researchers in the field of anthropology from December 2016 to June 2017, a process of appropriating findings was carried out. This article accurately describes this process both at the peripheral level, during "reflexive returns" in investigated maternity hospitals, and at the central level within the framework of work conducted by the study's steering committee. It reports on the changes that have taken place as a result of the study both at the level of health structures and at the level of national policies and strategies with a view to improving the quality of newborns care. RESULTS: The output of this process is twofold. At the peripheral level, activities of "reflexive returns" led to in situ changes of some harmful practices detrimental to the survival of the newborn, such as inappropriate use of the cradle in the birth room and lack of knowledge relative to the fight against hypothermia through the practice of skin-to-skin contact. At central level, changes concerned communication and strengthening policies and strategies of newborn care. CONCLUSION: The contribution of anthropology in the production evidence-based data is of paramount importance for the implementation of strategies to improve the quality of neonatal care. It opens up new perspectives for the sustainable improvement of the quality of care for newborns.

Une anthropologie impliquée pour améliorer les soins aux nouveau-nés au Cameroun.

INTRODUCTION: Policy directions in the health sector are based on research which provides insight into implemented actions and helps to formulate improvement recommendations for health. In Cameroon, an innovative experience of anthropological research on newborn health was followed by a process of appropriating findings by the Ministry of Public Health aiming at improving the quality of care. We suggest reporting this Cameroonian experience of interdisciplinary collaboration and involved research. METHOD: Coinciding with the anthropological study on newborn care in hospital maternities and at home conducted by researchers in the field of anthropology from December 2016 to June 2017, a process of appropriating findings was carried out. This article accurately describes this process both at the peripheral level, during "reflexive returns" in investigated maternity hospitals, and at the central level within the framework of work conducted by the study's steering committee. It reports on the changes that have taken place as a result of the study both at the level of health structures and at the level of national policies and strategies with a view to improving the quality of newborns care. RESULTS: The output of this process is twofold. At the peripheral level, activities of "reflexive returns" led to in situ changes of some harmful practices detrimental to the survival of the newborn, such as inappropriate use of the cradle in the birth room and lack of knowledge relative to the fight against hypothermia through the practice of skin-to-skin contact. At central level, changes concerned communication and strengthening policies and strategies of newborn care. CONCLUSION: The contribution of anthropology in the production evidence-based data is of paramount importance for the implementation of strategies to improve the quality of neonatal care. It opens up new perspectives for the sustainable improvement of the quality of care for newborns.

Use of a social media network to reduce early neonatal mortality: a preliminary report from a quality improvement project in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

BACKGROUND: Perinatal networks have yielded substantial contribution in decreasing the neonatal mortality rate. We present here the process of implementation of a perinatal network in Yaoundé (Cameroon) based on the WhatsApp messenger application as well as some preliminary results and achievements. METHODS: In December 2016, the Yaoundé Perinatal Network was launched, regrouping a multidisciplinary team of health professionals dealing with perinatal care in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The network takes advantage of WhatsApp facilities and is coordinated by 5 administrators. One of their main duties is to have a twice-daily updated status of the available equipment (incubators, oxygen and phototherapy) and bed capacities across the Yaoundé pediatric units. Once a request is sent through the network, other members react, either by giving advice or by telling where the desired equipment or expertise is available at that moment. Then, the baby is immediately prepared for transfer, occurring once the receiving pediatric unit has attested that it is already prepared to receive the new patient. RESULTS: From December 18, 2016 to July 31, 2017, 139 members representing all the principal maternities and tertiary pediatric units in Yaoundé were already included in the network. The network permitted instant sharing of knowledge and information between its members for an optimal delivery of care. Two hundred and seventeen neonates were transferred using the network; the median time of response after a request had been sent was 19.5 min and the delay in transferring a neonate averaged 70 min. CONCLUSION: Taking account of the preliminary promising notes, there is hope that the Yaoundé Perinatal Network will help to reduce neonatal mortality in our context. Lessons learned from its implementation will serve to replicate this innovative health action in other towns of the country. Moreover, this experience could be a source of inspiration for other countries facing similar challenges.