Bili-Hut: Saving Newborn Lives with Rapid Deployment of Phototherapy in Rural India

The Bili-Hut is a novel phototherapy device designed to improve access to jaundice treatment in low resource areas. It is extremely light-weight, portable, and capable of prolonged operation with a battery. The working prototype complies with recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics for high intensity phototherapy, delivering treatment in the optimal therapeutic light bandwidth equivalent or superior to existing commercial devices. Most initiatives to improve access to neonatal phototherapy center on equipment donation or designing cheaper devices for urban hospitals that have electricity. The Bili-Hut will meet the specific needs of the previously unreachable, low resource areas without reliable electricity that have the highest mortality from jaundice.