Helping Babies Breathe is a direct independent branch of the neonatal
resuscitation tree of knowledge. It grows from appreciation of
the unique physiology of the transition from fetal to neonatal
existence and knowledge of the pathophysiology that can occur.
The international recommendations that formthe scientific basis
of Helping Babies Breathe originate from the International Liaison Committee on
Resuscitation, an ongoing international effort for evidence
review and derivation of recommendations for resuscitation at
any age including neonatal.
Helping Babies Breathe focuses on resource-poor
environments and interventions that are effective for most
neonatal resuscitation challenges, whereas recognizing that
situation-specific limitations may mean that some difficult and
resource-demanding problems such as the needs of extremely
low birth weight babies may not be possible to treat under the
circumstances at the time. The principle that every infant
deserves at least initial evaluation, effort, and judgment applies.