Today was the first day of our Helping Babies Breathe course. The purpose of the course is to help Labor and Delivery health care providers learn what to do if the baby is born and is not breathing. We teach them to dry off and stimulate the baby by rubbing the babies back a few times, and if the baby does not start breathing, then we use a bag and mask to ventilate the baby. Usually after a minute or two of ventilation, the baby will start crying. About ten percent of babies need some help to start breathing, although not all will need the bag and mask.
We had 16 participants today. They are all instructors in the nurse midwife program here in Rabat at the Mohammed V University. Tomorrow, these 16 instructors will help us train a larger group of midwife students.
