Three hundred twelve mothers of infants aged 2-4 months in 11 slums of Indore, India, were interviewed to assess birth preparedness and complication readiness (BPACR) among them. The mothers were asked whether they followed the desired four steps while pregnant: identified a trained birth attendant, identified a health facility, arranged for transport, and saved money for emergency. Taking at least three steps was considered being well-prepared. Taking two or less steps was considered being less-prepared. One hundred forty-nine mothers (47.8%) were well-prepared. Factors associated with well-preparedness were assessed using adjusted multivariate models. Factors associated with well-preparedness were maternal literacy [odds ratio (OR)=1.9, (95%) confidence interval (CI) 1.1-3.4] and availing of antenatal services (OR=1.7, CI 1.05-2.8). Deliveries in the slum-home were high (56.4%). Among these, skilled attendance was low (7.4%); 77.3% of them were assisted by traditional birth attendants. Skilled attendance during delivery was three times higher in well-prepared mothers compared to less-prepared mothers (OR: 3.0, CI 1.6-5.4) Antenatal outreach sessions can be used for promoting BPACR. It will be important to increase the competency of slum-based traditional birth attendants, along with promoting institutional deliveries.

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On 31st December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown aetiology detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China.(1) The first cases of COVID-19 outside of China were identified on January 30 in India and it has spread to 210 countries in all world regions by 10th April 2020, with more than 1.6 million confirmed and more than 0.1 million deaths worldwide.(2) Disasters and pandemics pose exceptional challenges to providing health care. Though telemedicine will not solve them all, it is well suited for scenarios in which medical practitioners can evaluate and manage patients. Previous work has specifically described the potential for using telemedicine in disasters and public health emergencies, wherein Patients prioritize convenient and inexpensive care, whether in-person visits becomes the last option for meeting patient needs.(3,4)

HT emerged simpler and programmatically feasible. There is a need to examine whether trained and supervised community-based health workers and mothers can use HT accurately to identify and manage hypothermia and other simple signs of newborn illness using minimal algorithm at home and more confidently refer such newborns to proximal facilities linked to the program to ensure prompt management of illness.