Making lifesaving newborn careuniversal in Nigeria.
250,000 newborns die every year here.
The evidence exists but quality delivery does not.
First Embrace works with government hospitals and institutions to affordably close delivery gaps and make Kangaroo Care routine.
The problem
The World Health Organization recommends Kangaroo Care for every premature and underweight newborn.
Nigerian national policy (2017) aims for 95% coverage by 2030.
18%
of vulnerable newborns do not survivethe neonatal period in Nigeria.
Our own estimate, replicating GiveWell’s methodology.
A national estimate, covering newborns born in hospitals and in the community, where mortality is likely higher.
The reasons why can be solved affordably.
What is Kangaroo Care?
- 1Skin to skin care
- 2Exclusive breastfeeding
- 3Danger-sign education
When newborns die, and how many stay with us
Around 60% of newborn deaths happen in the first three days of life.
Systematic review of 34 studies.
77% of our newborns stay with us through them.
563 of 730 newborns whose stay has ended reached day 3 or beyond.
What do we do?
To our knowledge we are the only organisation supporting the government to practically scale Kangaroo Care in Kano.
We equip existing wards to WHO standards and train dedicated nursing teams to run them in public hospitals.
Nurses log every Kangaroo Care session in a real-time monitoring system, and the ward is run off what it shows.
We work with government to make this the standard of care the health system delivers.
Results · Kano State, since February 2026
Starting in Kano. Building for scale.
We work in two public hospitals in Kano State, where trained nursing teams have delivered Kangaroo Care to more than 762 newborns. We are using this first implementation to learn what it takes to make Kangaroo Care simple and practical for nurses to deliver consistently on a public ward.
Our goal is to work alongside the Kano State Ministry of Health to develop a model that can be integrated into and delivered throughout the health system.
We have concluded our pilot in a hospital that looks after 1,000 newborns every month. We are continuing there and have now expanded to a second hospital.
Supported by
Why us
Built for this challenge. Led by those closest to it.
We unite global clinical experience with local systems expertise.
Partners
Advised by experts from
Support
$300 gives a newborn Kangaroo Care from birth to home.
$3,000 is our own cost-effectiveness estimate for this program; the $3,500 on the home page is GiveWell’s for Kangaroo Care generally. Predictable funding lowers equipment costs through bulk procurement, so every dollar goes further. Donations in particular countries are tax deductible: contact us for information.
- $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. One-off or monthly.