Marketing Skin-To-Skin-Contact in the Kangaroo Position as a Frugal Technology: A No-Cost Way to Support Improved Maternal-Child Health Outcomes across Global Contexts
Journal Title: International Journal of Health Sciences and Research - Year 2017, Vol 7, Issue 8
Abstract
Background: Long before the 21st century frugal innovation movement, the practice of skin-to-skin contact achieved through the Kangaroo Position described in Kangaroo Mother Care was introduced as a strategy to thermostabilize low birthweight infants without electric incubators and avoid separating mothers and babies. Discussion: We explain the spectrum of skin-to-skin contact interventions (hospital-based and community-based Kangaroo Mother Care, the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative) to show skin-to-skin contact achieved by the Kangaroo Position as a pioneering frugal solution to address the global health problems of infant mortality and morbidity. We have found no literature formally describing these methods as frugal technologies/innovations. The need to actively promote maternal-infant contact is necessary because separating the mother and baby plus the medicalization and technological focus of birth is the current accepted medical norm. Skin-to-skin contact is an evidence-based best practice that should be promoted as a lower cost, sustainable medical intervention suitable for all newborns and their families across low-, middle-, and high-resource countries. This provides new marketing opportunities for maternal and child health interventions within the framework of frugal technology, fitting skin-to-skin contact and Kangaroo Mother Care within a popular, fundable, 21st century movement. Conclusion: Adding the concept of frugal technology to discussions of skin-to-skin contact-based interventions is a no-cost way to reach additional stakeholders and address medicine’s cultural bias against low-technology and natural solutions. This reframing can be used to address healthcare system barriers to increase skin-to-skin contact intervention coverage, which is necessary to achieve global goals for infant and maternal health improvement.
Authors and Affiliations
Nikki L. Rogers
Keywords
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