Gaza's Nasser Hospital Starts Pilot Care Programme for Premature Babies

Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis in southern Gaza has launched a pilot programme of kangaroo mother care for premature and low-birthweight newborns, according to Al Jazeera.

The pilot is supported by the WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA. The three agencies announced the initiative at Nasser Hospital in September, and it is being introduced gradually in the hospital's external neonatal care unit.

Khawla al-Madhoun is director of nursing for the maternity and neonatal departments at the complex.

One of the families in the programme is that of Rania Fadel, who gave birth to twin boys, Ilyas and Yahya, on September 25. Her son Ilyas weighed 1.4 kilogrammes at birth and remained in the neonatal intensive care unit at Nasser for nearly two weeks.

WHO guidance states that kangaroo mother care reduces neonatal mortality by 32 percent and mortality by six months of age by 25 percent compared with conventional care.

The programme has started after sustained pressure on maternal and newborn services in Gaza. UNICEF said in October 2025 that the situation for mothers and babies in Gaza has never been worse, according to Reuters. At that time, new mothers and their newborn children were lying on the floor in Nasser Hospital.

Premature babies have been among the patients moved for treatment during the war. In November 2023, 28 premature babies evacuated from Gaza's biggest hospital were taken into Egypt for urgent treatment, Reuters reported. On April 1, 2026, Reuters reported that 11 children evacuated from Gaza as pre-term babies two years earlier had returned to their parents, according to Reuters.