Historical Background
HBB 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 HBB 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.14 HBB 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.
The Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) of the American
Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association has
been a prominent leader of neonatal resuscitation development
and is now in its third decade. The NRP, along with
other neonatal resuscitation programs, has been taught in
more than 100 countries. Experience teaching and disseminating
neonatal resuscitation around the world helped expand
the growing understanding of the special needs of resourcepoor
environments.