The Neonatal Division at the Department of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, was designated as the WHO Collaborating Centre for Training and Research in 1997. During the 26 years since its inception, the Centre has made significant contributions towards the promotion of newborn care at the national and the international level. We are privileged to have been associated with a wide range of neonatal health initiatives of the World Health Organization through the India Country Office, the South East Asia Regional Office, and the HQ's at Geneva. The Centre has collaborated with several countries in the Region and helped many countries in establishing Newborn Intensive Care facilities. Our activities included training, advocacy, research, technical support, and networking.

Currently the WHO-CC is involved in providing regular in-service fellowships for health professionals from India and SEARO countries. We have developed training tools on Essential Newborn Nursing for resource-limited countries and Standard Treatment Protocols for management of sick newborns for dissemination in the SEA region. The centre has coordinated the Kangaroo Mother Care Initiative network with five institutions in the country, for spreading and promoting evidence based practices related to KMC among health care professionals. A website has been launched for healthcare professionals and parents (www.kmcindia.org)

Regular training workshops on Neonatal Resuscitation, Kangaroo Mother Care, Neonatal Ventilation, CPAP, and Continuing Medical Education for doctors and nurses are being conducted in AIIMS Delhi and satellite cities by the WHO-CC Faculty. Our centre is the nodal centre for Neonatal Perinatal Database in the SEARO region and has conducted large-scale multisite research on key Newborn Health issues in collaboration with ICMR through Centre of Advanced Research. At present, our division is pursuing development of a SEAR Quality Improvement (QI) network to facilitate QI activities in the region and disseminate the widespread implementation of QI to improve newborn health outcomes.