Course Description
This course provides practical guidance on using the Small and Sick Newborn Planning & Costing Tool, an Excel-based instrument the Global Financing Facility designed to support planning and budgeting for scaling up inpatient care for small and sick newborns at district level. These facilities are designated as Level 2 units in the Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere Action Plan 2020-2025 (formerly the Every Newborn Action Plan).
Note: While we use the term ‘Level 2 newborn care units’ throughout this course, we recognize that countries organize their health systems differently. The level of facility we describe – providing inpatient care for small and sick newborns at the district level – may be classified under different tiers or categories in your health system
We focus on effectively using the tool to facilitate discussions and cost country-specific standards for small and sick newborn care. Participants will learn how to navigate the tool, input data correctly, interpret outputs, and use the analytics to inform policy, planning and budgeting decisions for setting up and operating Level 2 Newborn Care Units.
The course also covers the country-specific process for implementing the tool and developing a roadmap for successful application tailored to each country’s needs.
Technical guidance on setting clinical standards of care is outside the scope of this course and should be sought from other resources.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Articulate the purpose, structure, and methodological approach of the Small and Sick Newborn Planning & Costing Tool
- Identify the key data inputs needed to populate the tool’s modules for planning and budgeting Level 2 Newborn Care Units
- Outline the step-by-step process for country-level implementation of the tool, including stakeholder engagement, data collection, and validation
- Confidently navigate the tool’s features, correctly enter data into relevant modules, and troubleshoot common issues using the User Guide Manual
- Apply the tool to generate cost estimates for country-specific Small & Sick Newborn Care standards across infrastructure, equipment, staffing, and other domains
- Conduct comparative analyses of facility costs across different typologies
- Use the planning and costing tool to undertake a basic cost sensitivity analysis and model alternative scale-up costing scenarios
- Interpret the tool’s outputs and use the analytics to derive strategic insights to guide Small & Sick Newborn Care policy, planning and budgeting decisions
- Define potential use cases for the tool in their specific country context and identify additional analyses needed to fulfil those use cases
- Develop a roadmap for effective application of the tool to support national scale-up of Level 2 newborn care units, integrating it into planning and budgeting processes
Target Audience
This course is designed for individuals directly involved in or supporting the planning, budgeting and scale-up of inpatient care services for small and sick newborns, including:
- National and sub-national health planners, policymakers and budget officers responsible for newborn health
- Newborn program managers
- Health facility managers and service delivery planners
- Advisors from development partner agencies supporting newborn care
Prerequisites
- Familiarity with health systems and newborn care concepts. Ideally familiarity with the WHO-UNICEF model of care for Small and Sick Newborns.
- Basic understanding of Microsoft Excel. Ideally, familiarity with Excel’s security features and macro settings, although the course will cover in detail how to enable macros to ensure full functionality of the tool.