The world’s leading neonatologists have shared their experience with Ukrainian doctors at the 11th conference of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation’s Cradles of Hope program

On 5-6 November 2019, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation's Cradles of Hope program held its 11th research-to-practice conference entitled “Intensive care of newborns. Modern management of premature baby care” in Kyiv. The event introduced Ukrainian neonatologists to new trends in intensive care for newborns, including preterm infants.

For 13 years already, the Cradles of Hope project, in addition to providing state-of-the-art medical equipment to neonatal centres, has been carrying out systematic work to teach doctors and nurses the world's infant nursing techniques. As part of this project, the Foundation promotes the introduction of new technologies and practices on the path to reforming maternal and child care in Ukraine.

Viktoria Cherniavska, executive director of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation: “For over 13 years, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation's Cradles of Hope program has been contributing to the modernization of Ukraine's neonatology sector. We work to ensure that every premature baby in our country has a chance at life, and that doctors are able to provide assistance with the help of the latest equipment and techniques. We are proud that over 50,000 babies have been rescued over the period of the program.”

Some 170 specialists of neonatal intensive care units from all over Ukraine and representatives of field-specific departments at national higher education medical establishments took part in the conference. A separate practical workshop was held for nurses of neonatal intensive care units at perinatal centers in addition to the main program.

This year's speakers included Professor Gorm Greisen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Dr Munish Gupta (Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, USA), Professor Anton van Kaam (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands), Dr Paul Clarke (University of Norfolk, UK), Dr Christopher Tomlinson (Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, SickKids Children's Hospital, Canada). The Nurse Section is led by ATOM Medical Corporation's Senior Clinical Specialist Angie Haken.

Tetiana Znamenska, President of the Association of Neonatologists of Ukraine: “Some of the methods of premature baby treatment, which we first heard about 5-6 years ago at one of the conferences held by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation's Cradles of Hope program, are now being successfully used in the daily work of intensive care units. That is why this exchange of experience is extremely important as it allows our doctors to keep up to speed on the most up-to-date information on infant care.”

The conference covered specialized topics related to the use of various types of respiratory support, prevention of brain damage and some other diseases, monitoring of patients' cerebral functions, neurodevelopment of preterm babies, ethical issues in neonatology and so on.

The conference media partner, the ICTV channel, ensures professional filming of all the reports with a consequent editing of the video materials that will soon be made available on the Cradles of Hope program website of the perusal by neonatology experts.