More newborns in Solomon Islands are receiving life-saving care in the critical first hours after birth, with a new World Health Organization (WHO) report confirming the country has reached the regional Early Essential Newborn Care (EENC) target for childbirth facilities.
The country profile in the report shows that EENC had been introduced in 84% of birth facilities – 37 of 44 facilities – by 2019, with 559 health workers coached in EENC. This is according to WHO’s Early Essential Newborn Care: Fourth Progress Report (2022–2023), published in 2026, which documents progress in implementing EENC and identifies priorities for sustaining and improving the quality of maternal and newborn care.
Early Essential Newborn Care is a package of proven interventions during labor and immediately after birth that improves outcomes for both mothers and newborns. The approach promotes respectful, evidence-based care by supporting birth companions, allowing women to choose their birthing position, eliminating harmful practices, and ensuring timely administration of life-saving interventions. Solomon Islands began implementing EENC in 2015, as part of a regional initiative targeting countries with high newborn deaths.
“Every newborn life that is saved means a family spared from heartbreak and a community given hope. No mother should lose her baby because simple, proven care was not available at the right moment. This progress shows what is possible when our health workers, communities, WHO and partners work together. The Ministry of Health and Medical Services remains committed to bringing these life-saving practices closer to every mother and every child, wherever they are born,” said the Honorable Morris Toiraena, Minister of Health and Medical Services.
“The first minutes and hours of life are critical to a newborn’s survival, health and development. Solomon Islands’ achievement in introducing EENC in more than 80% of birth facilities is a major step forward, but the measure of success is whether mothers and babies—no matter where they live—can count on safe, respectful and high-quality care at birth,” said Dr Howard Sobel, WHO Representative in Solomon Islands. Dr Sobel was among the key WHO technical experts who pioneered the development and scale-up of EENC in the Western Pacific Region.
Strong newborn care practices
The report highlights encouraging results from assessments of seven selected Solomon Islands health facilities implementing EENC in 2023.
Among term newborns assessed, 75% received uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact for at least 90 minutes, while 94% remained in skin-to-skin contact until their first breastfeed. More than half (56%) received both early and exclusive breastfeeding. The report also found that all women assessed during labor received key recommended delivery practices, except for choice of position.
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A mother holds her newborn skin-to-skin following childbirth. Early Essential Newborn Care (EENC) promotes simple, evidence-based practices—including immediate and prolonged skin-to-skin contact and early breastfeeding—to give newborns the best possible start in life. Photo: WHO / Ruel Serrano
A mother holds her newborn skin-to-skin following childbirth. Early Essential Newborn Care (EENC) promotes simple, evidence-based practices—including immediate and prolonged skin-to-skin contact and early breastfeeding—to give newborns the best possible start in life. Photo: WHO / Ruel Serrano
For preterm and low-birthweight newborns – babies who face some of the greatest risks during the first days of life – the assessment also examined practices including immediate and prolonged skin-to-skin contact, breastfeeding and Kangaroo Mother Care.
These practices are particularly important in Solomon Islands, where complications of prematurity remain a major threat to newborn survival. The report estimates that preterm complications accounted for 50.6% of neonatal deaths in Solomon Islands in 2021, followed by congenital anomalies at 20.6%, birth asphyxia at 15%, sepsis or pneumonia at 5%, and other causes at 8%.
From progress to lasting quality
Despite these achievements, the report identifies areas requiring continued attention.
While adequate hand hygiene was practiced in all deliveries observed during the assessment, only 14% of assessed hospitals had alcohol gel or hand rub available in all delivery, recovery, postnatal and neonatal care rooms. None met the report’s standard for adequate sink handwashing facilities across all these rooms. Meanwhile, 86% had clean and dry newborn resuscitation areas.
WHO recommends that Solomon Islands continue expanding EENC to all facilities where babies are born and maintain coaching for health workers. Other priorities identified in the report include developing and implementing a costed five-year EENC plan; promoting immediate and uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact and early and exclusive breastfeeding; ensuring consistent supplies of oxytocin, magnesium sulfate and vitamin K; and strengthening the quality and use of health information through DHIS2.
The findings reinforce the importance of sustaining investments in frontline health workers, essential medicines and commodities, quality improvement and reliable health information so that progress in newborn survival translates into consistently high-quality care in every health facility.
“The next step is to move from coverage to consistency—making sure that every facility, every health worker and every birth is supported to provide the same high standard of care. WHO will continue working alongside the Ministry of Health and Medical Services to sustain coaching, strengthen quality improvement and ensure that every newborn in Solomon Islands, especially the most vulnerable, has the healthiest possible start to life,” said Dr Sobel.