Rapid Diagnosis of Frail and Sick Newborns with a Handheld Vital Sign Monitor

We have designed a low-cost, hand-held, non-contact, point-and-click vital sign monitor (VSM) for neonates that assesses heart and respiratory function, PO2 saturation, thermal regulation and blood vessel branching to improve detection and referral of frail newborns. The VSM can be used by community health workers (CHW) and clinic-based personnel. We propose to assess the potential of the VSM as a tool to save newborn lives. This will compare VSM-based identification of frail infants with conventional clinical assessment, and in a community setting it will compare the ability of the VSM to enhance CHW impact on newborn health and survival with current practice of CHW monitoring of birth weight and Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illness (IMNCI).