First Embrace

Every year, 250,000 newborns in Nigeria don’t survive their first month.

Many could be saved by a simple, proven solution that few receive.

We ensure no child misses out on a lifesaving first embrace.

A mother holding her newborn in Kangaroo Care

The evidence

The World Health Organization recommends Kangaroo Care for every premature and low-birthweight newborn, with its highest level of certainty. Only 5% of them receive it.

The reasons why are solvable.

33%
Average reduction in newborn deaths versus conventional care.
Cochrane · meta-analysis of 21 RCTs
$1,342–3,356
Estimated cost per newborn life saved.
GiveWell

What is Kangaroo Care?

Kangaroo Care is continuous skin-to-skin contact between a parent and their newborn. It keeps the baby warm, stable, and feeding, and it dramatically improves survival for premature and low-birthweight babies. Press play to see how it works in under two minutes.

Kano · since February 2026

Our results

We have concluded our pilot of our model in one of Nigeria’s highest-burden hospitals for newborns. We are continuing there and have now expanded our work to a second hospital.

We compare our program outcomes against both a prospective hospital baseline and national and subnational baseline estimates to evaluate its impact. All data is shared with the Kano State Ministry of Health.

482
Newborns cared for
96%
Received Kangaroo Care
94%
Survived to day 28

75% of newborn deaths happen in the first week of life. Most of our babies stay with us through it.

See our full impact →
A mother holding her newborn on the Kangaroo Care ward in Kano

We embed Kangaroo Care in government hospitals

Nigeria aims for 95% of newborns to receive Kangaroo Care by 2030. To our knowledge, we are the only organisation supporting government hospitals in practically scaling it in Kano.

01
Train & equip

We equip existing wards to WHO standards and train dedicated nursing teams to run them.

02
Deliver & track

Nurses deliver Kangaroo Care and log every session in a real-time monitoring system.

03
Embed

We work with government so over time they can manage programs as we assist them technically.

A Kangaroo Care ward in a government hospital

Why us

Built for this challenge. Led by those closest to it.

We unite global clinical experience with local systems expertise.

Dr Wesley Quadros
Dr Wesley Quadros
Co-founder
Ikra Gulzar
Ikra Gulzar
Co-founder
Prof. Zubaida Farouk
Prof. Zubaida Farouk
Head of Training
Dr Musa Sufi
Dr Musa Sufi
Government Lead

Advised by experts from

Charity Entrepreneurship
Save the Children
New Incentives
Ansh
GiveWell

$300 gives a newborn Kangaroo Care from birth to home.

Predictable funding lowers equipment costs through bulk procurement, so every dollar goes further. All donations are tax-deductible.

A mother carrying her newborn skin-to-skin in a Kangaroo Care wrap

Choose your impact

$60
Kangaroo Care for a vulnerable newborn on the day when they are most likely to not survive.
$300
Kangaroo Care from birth to home for one newborn.
$2,000
Kangaroo Care for a whole ward of vulnerable newborns for a week.
$3,000
A newborn life saved.

Donating is as quick as reading this.

Help us save more newborn lives

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