In today’s episode, host Luisa Rodriguez speaks to Dean Spears — associate professor of economics at the University of Texas at Austin and founding director of r.i.c.e. — about his experience implementing a surprisingly low-tech but highly cost-effective kangaroo mother care programme in Uttar Pradesh, India to save the lives of vulnerable newborn infants.
Links to learn more, highlights, and full transcript.
They cover:
- The shockingly high neonatal mortality rates in Uttar Pradesh, India, and how social inequality and gender dynamics contribute to poor health outcomes for both mothers and babies.
- The remarkable benefits for vulnerable newborns that come from skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding support.
- The challenges and opportunities that come with working with a government hospital to implement new, evidence-based programmes.
- How the currently small programme might be scaled up to save more newborns’ lives in other regions of Uttar Pradesh and beyond.
- How targeted health interventions stack up against direct cash transfers.
- Plus, a sneak peak into Dean’s new book, which explores the looming global population peak that’s expected around 2080, and the consequences of global depopulation.
- And much more.
Chapters:
- Why is low birthweight a major problem in Uttar Pradesh? (00:02:45)
- Neonatal mortality and maternal health in Uttar Pradesh (00:06:10)
- Kangaroo mother care (00:12:08)
- What would happen without this intervention? (00:16:07)
- Evidence of KMC’s effectiveness (00:18:15)
- Longer-term outcomes (00:32:14)
- GiveWell’s support and implementation challenges (00:41:13)
- How can KMC be so cost effective? (00:52:38)
- Programme evaluation (00:57:21)
- Is KMC is better than direct cash transfers? (00:59:12)
- Expanding the programme and what skills are needed (01:01:29)
- Fertility and population decline (01:07:28)
- What advice Dean would give his younger self (01:16:09)
Producer and editor: Keiran Harris
Audio engineering lead: Ben Cordell
Technical editing: Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong
Additional content editing: Katy Moore and Luisa Rodriguez
Transcriptions: Katy Moore