Practice of Essential Care for Newborns in the Referral Health Center of Commune 5 of Bamako District

Introduction: Delay in recognizing newborn health problems and delay in accessing quality care contribute to a high number of newborn deaths. The objective of this work was to study the practice of essential newborn care. Patients and method: This was a descriptive study on critical care newborns at the referral health Center of the Commune 5 (CSRéf C5) Bamako from 1^st April to 31 May 2018. The acquisition, processing and data analysis were done on SPSS software. Results: The average age of the patients was 24.8 years. They were out of school and knew about the importance of prenatal consultations (83.3%). The majority of health workers were Nurses and Obstetricians (59.3%). The effective care (100%) given to the newborns was anthropometric measurements of the newborn and identification of the newborn. Treatments such as stimulated drying, skin-to-skin contact, warming, and administration of vitamin K1 were each administered at over 90%. The fight against heat loss by the head (14.1%) and early latching (41.5%) were insufficiently administered. Cord care was not provided at the Hospital prior to discharge for contextual reasons. The administration of ocular antiseptics was not administered in the hospital. Conclusion: The administration of essential newborn care at the referral health Center of the Commune 5 in Bamako has shortcomings.