Using Community Health Workers and Novel In-Home Phototherapy to Dramatically Reduce Brain Damage from Neonatal Jaundice in Low to Middle Income Countries

Approximately 14 million infants per year in low to middle income countries (LMIC) are at risk from neonatal jaundice (NNJ) progressing to extreme hyperbilirubinemia (EHB) and brain damage. Nearly 80% of the 481,000 cases of EHB are in LMIC because infants are identified too late or health facility treatment is inaccessible or inadequate. New, low-cost, easy to use screening and phototherapy treatment technologies enable our proposed redesign of care delivery in LMIC to save infant brains. We plan to shift care from specialists and hospitals to community health workers (CHW) and homes. We will integrate CHW-led prevention during pregnancy, with timely household screening and treatment. We will reach infants before brain damage occurs and treat infants who would not otherwise be treated.Our innovation, showcased in rural Bangladesh, is a collaboration between icddr,b, Stanford University and D-Rev and builds upon an already funded CHW-led program to improve child development.