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On World Patient Safety Day, it’s critical to highlight the need for safe care from the very beginning of life. Newborns and children require care tailored to their age, weight, developmental stage, health needs, and social context to prevent avoidable harm.

Every child and every newborn have the right to safe, quality health care from day one.

A single safety incident can have lifelong consequences for a child’s health and development.

Join the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for a regional webinar to mark World Patient Safety Day 2025 under the slogan “Patient safety from the start!”.

When: 23 September 2025

Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (EDT)

To establish lactation when an extremely premature birth occurs, it is important:

1) Manually expressing colostrum, within the first three hours after birth, initiates the milk production process and has several benefits:

- It empties the mammary gland which, together with the action of the hormones that promote labor and delivery, are a powerful stimulus to initiate milk production.

El Código se aplica en todos los países, con independencia de lo establecido en las políticas nacionales sobre la alimentación de los lactantes cuyas madres están infectadas por el VIH. La aplicación del código es fundamental para que no disminuyan las tasas de lactancia materna.

Human milk is the best food for newborns, even if they are small, premature or sick. Breastfeeding improves infant survival, health and development. It is also associated with better neurodevelopmental outcomes and less obesity, hypertension and insulin resistance in adolescence, among many other benefits.

The daily application of chlorhexidine to the umbilical cord stump in the first postnatal week is a recommendation that depends on the settings.

The only scenario that supports its use is where traditionally noxious substances (e.g., animal manure) are used on the umbilical cord. In newborns with unhygienic cord care (defined as the use of noxious substances on the cord, such as dust, clay, mud, and animal manure), chlorhexidine reduced mortality.

In addition to the implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Human Milk Substitutes, other complementary actions are needed to promote the optimal feeding of infant and young children. The Breastfeeding Promotion Initiative led by WHO and UNICEF, aims to increase global commitment to breastfeeding. In addition to achieving full implementation of the code through strong legal measures, the initiative's call to action urges governments, donors and partners to do the following:
• Increase funding for breastfeeding promotion initiatives.

Any type of promotion of breastmilk substitutes, bottles and teats should be completely prohibited at health care facilities, as established by the International Code of Marketing of Human Milk Substitutes and subsequent relevant resolutions of the World Health Assembly. In addition, no free or subsidized donations of breast milk substitutes or other products, gifts or samples may be given to health workers at any health system facility.

Regarding the administration of feeding the premature newborns in intensive care areas, the written breastfeeding policy should explicit issues related to the:

If the newborn’s clinical condition is favorable, skin-to-skin contact should be initiated immediately after birth.

The vital signs of mother and baby should be checked regularly to monitor their well-being. The person accompanying the patient, family member, doula or health care staff should monitor the woman’s wakefulness to protect the newborn’s safety in this vulnerable period.