This burden remains far higher than in high-income countries, where neonatal mortality is typically below 4 deaths per 1,000 live births a gap that reflects persistent inequities in access to quality maternal and newborn care.
HOW IT WORKS
Facility to Home (F2H) strengthens the continuum of care by preparing both health systems and families to support vulnerable mothers and newborns beyond discharge. The program trains a dedicated cadre of nurses and Community Health Workers in quality facility-based care for at risk newborns, and in structured post-discharge support through the critical first six months of life.
PHBC partners with four Newborn Care Units three of them established over the past four years to ensure high-quality inpatient care. Upon discharge, mothers and newborns are enrolled in the F2H pathway and receive consistent follow-up through scheduled home visits over a six-month period.
Through F2H, nurses are supported to strengthen discharge planning, ensuring caregivers leave the facility fully informed and confident in caring for their newborns. The program promotes exclusive breastfeeding and Kangaroo Mother Care both proven, lifesaving practices that significantly improve newborn survival and early development.
Trained Community Health Workers continue this care at the household level, conducting regular home visits that reinforce essential practices for survival, growth, and early brain development. By bridging the gap between facility and community, PHBC’s Facility to Home program addresses both the second delay (reaching care) and the third delay (receiving quality care) ensuring lifesaving support continues where it matters most: at home.
OUR GOAL FOR THE NEXT 3-5 YEARS
Over the next three to five years, PHBC aims to scale Facility to Home by integrating this cost effective program into the government health system and expanding it across the regions we serve Pwani, Lindi, Mtwara, Kigoma, and Mwanza.