East Meets West a program of Thrive Networks
Severe neonatal jaundice in premature and term babies brings a higher risk of permanent neurological damage or death. Jaundice should be promptly diagnosed and treated, but, in particular in low resource countries, this problem is often underestimated. There are few reliable statistics on the incidence of jaundice in the least developed countries in the world. To shed more light on this important issue, an International Congress was organized at the University of Trieste, Italy, in September 2015, where data collected by several researchers in different regions of the world were presented and common issues discussed. Dr. Gaston Arnolda, PhD, International Monitoring and Evaluation Director of Thrive Networks, presented the data of the incidence of jaundice in Myanmar, and the work of Thrive to date in this field. This newly-released report summarizes the findings of the symposium, underlying the need for intensive educational programs for families and health personnel to facilitate timely care-seeking, accurate and timely diagnostics and effective high power phototherapy.
