title: Impact of a nationwide training program for neonatal resuscitation in China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Seventeen million births occur in China each year. Neonatal mortality is the leading cause of under 5-year-old child deaths, and intrapartum-related injury accounts for much of mental retardation in young children. The Chinese Ministry of Health sought to improve infant and child survival through a nationwide initiative to have at least one person trained in neonatal resuscitation at every birth. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the impact of China Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) on policy and infrastructure changes and its effectiveness in decreasing the incidence of mortality among newborn infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Chinese NRP incorporated policy change, professional education, and creation of a sustainable health system infrastructure for resuscitation. Multidisciplinary teams from all 31 provinces and municipal states disseminated NRP in a train-the-trainer cascade. The intervention targeted 20 provinces with high neonatal mortality and programs to reduce maternal mortality. Program evaluation data came from 322 representative hospitals in those provinces.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Changes in policy permitted midwives to initiate resuscitation and required resuscitation training for licensure. From 2004 through 2009 more than 110,659 professionals received NRP training in the 20 target provinces, with 94% of delivery facilities and 99% of counties reached. Intrapartum-related deaths in the delivery room decreased from 7.5 to 3.4 per 10,000 from 2003 to 2008, and the incidence of Apgar ≤ 7 at 1 minute decreased from 6.3% to 2.9%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Chinese NRP achieved policy changes promoting resuscitation, trained large numbers of professionals, and contributed to reduction in delivery room mortality. Improved adherence to the resuscitation algorithm, extension of training to the township level, and coverage of births now occurring outside health facilities can further increase the number of lives saved.
authors.affiliation: National Center for Women and Children's Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100089, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Hui-shan
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hong-mao
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Ren-jie
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Xing-hua
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Dan-hua
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Li-xin
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Li-min
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Keenan
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Niermeyer
mesh_terms: D001238:Asphyxia Neonatorum / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D002681:China; D002983:Clinical Competence; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D012151:Resuscitation / Q000193:education* / Q000295:instrumentation