Community Empowerment Lab
Making lifesaving newborn care routine in public health systems
Aiming to reach 500,000 low-birth weight babies annually by 2030
576,545
low birth-weight babies have received KMC through KMC Lounges
10,682
estimated number of newborn lives saved (based on modeling estimates)
96%
of mothers are satisfied with their KMC Lounge experience
The day a child is born is the most dangerous day in their life. Small and vulnerable newborns comprise about 20-25% of all births but a disproportionate 80% of all newborn deaths.
For decades, Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) has offered a proven way to reduce mortality in small vulnerable newborns by up to 40%. It involves sustained skin-to-skin contact on the mother’s or caregiver’s chest along with exclusive breastmilk feeding to support warmth, nutrition and improve survival.
Drawing on their community-centric research in neonatal mortality, Dr Vishwajeet Kumar, Aarti Kumar and their team at Community Empowerment Lab (CEL) worked with mothers, health providers and health system leaders in India to translate KMC’s evidence into a scalable delivery model.
The result was the KMC Lounge Ecosystem, which creates dedicated, dignified spaces for mothers to practice KMC, combined with staff training, changes to facility routines and a decision-support app. The model works within existing infrastructure and staffing to make KMC routine.
Through implementation research, CEL have translated KMC policy endorsement and evidence into routine practice, reshaping how care is delivered at scale by centering mothers in newborn care.
These case studies were developed in partnership with Spring Impact, a global nonprofit helping mission-driven organizations to scale their impact.
