CHENNAI : The two-day annual convention of the National Neonotalogy Forum, Tamil Nadu Chapter, held on the weekend focussed on skill-based training for nurses.

The Forum has so far trained 800 nurses in tsunami-hit areas and village health nurses in Chennai Corporation, said S. Jayam, founder of the Forum. A third of under-five child deaths occur within the first seven days of life. Of the low birth weight babies born the world over, India's share is 40 percent (8 million babies below normal weight at birth).

The Chennai chapter of the Forum has launched a training programme for nurses.

They are trained and evaluated pre-and post-training sessions to ensure that they have understood the concept. Exclusive breastfeeding could bring down the death of neonates by about 19 per cent, she said.

Arvind Saili, president of the Forum, who inaugurated the fourth edition of the convention, called for research. Unlike in Tamil Nadu or Kerala, the number of children dying in Orissa and northern states is far higher. "If in Tamil Nadu the infant mortality rate is 30 then in Empowered Action group states such as Orissa it is 90."

The focus of the Forum now is on children less than a month old. The forum has proposed hand-holding training programmes which will help mothers learn to nurture their babies. The Forum's souvenir was also released.

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