Despite the improvement in neonatal and infant mortality rates in Malawi, statistics still identify 27 neonatal mortalities per 1,000 live births and 42 infant mortalities per 1,000 live births. These figures are still unacceptably high. The common causes of neonatal death are prematurity (37%), intrapartum-related complications (28%), and severe infection (24%). These causes create an opportunity to further improve the mortality rates in both populations with a focus on improving the clinical skills of nursing and midwifery students in Malawi. Training to recognize when an infant requires resuscitation, as well as how to perform resuscitative and post-resuscitative care, may help to reduce Malawi's infant mortality rate in the future.
Keywords: curriculum; infant; malawi; midwives; neonate; nurses; resuscitation; simulation; young.