Brilliance: world-class jaundice treatment for low-resource settings

Jaundice is a critical global health issue among newborns

Jaundice is the #1 reason why newborns are admitted to hospitals worldwide. About 3 in 5 children have some degree of jaundice. For approximately 12% of babies, the condition is severe and requires treatment. Without timely treatment, a baby with severe jaundice may sustain brain damage or die.

Millions of babies are not receiving the effective care they need

With experts at Stanford University School of Medicine, we estimate that every year, over 6 million babies with severe jaundice are not receiving adequate treatment.
Yet, jaundice is EASY to treat.
If detected early enough, it simply requires shining BLUE LIGHT onto a baby’s skin for 2-3 days.

Current treatment devices are costly to purchase and maintain

In studies of medical facilities in India and Nigeria, D-Rev and Stanford found that 95% of devices evaluated in low-income hospitals and clinics did not meet American Academy of Pediatrics standards. Maintenance was a key limitation in delivery of treatment: approximately 1 in 3 phototherapy devices had at least one bulb burned out or missing. Blue compact florescent bulbs, commonly used in phototherapy devices, cost $17 per bulb to replace and last approximately four months. With devices using an average of six bulbs, many hospitals have trouble sourcing these bulbs – and can’t afford to replace them as needed.

A market divided

Because a majority of babies in low-income settings are born at home, a mother won’t realize her baby is ill until the child stops nursing. Rural clinics rarely have the means to diagnosis or treat severe jaundice, forcing the mother and her newborn to travel hours – or possibly days – to reach an urban hospital. The clock is ticking – jaundice is time sensitive.

We are starting where the need is most critical

We learned from our fieldwork and due diligence, however, that urban hospitals, where very sick children are referred, also rarely have effective phototherapy – in fact, less than 10% in our target areas. The needs of these two settings, hospitals and clinics, are significantly different – and called for two devices.