A vest for treating jaundice in low-resource settings

Neonatal Jaundice (NJ) is a worldwide and commonly known issue with known treatment and preventions. However, in low-resource settings (LRSs), the solution to treatment is far from trivial. This paper aims to address the issues and causes for insufficient NJ phototherapy on a global scale, presenting the design, test and development of a first prototype of a vest, with embedded fibre optics and sensors for autonomous phototherapy treatment of new born jaundice in LRSs. Specifically, this paper evaluates and reports on the feasibility of such a device to be a means of delivering complete and effective phototherapy treatment to jaundiced neonates in LRSs. Among the main innovations included in our design, are garmented jaundice treatment, accessibility in LRSs, and integrated diagnostics for a closed loop control. The scope will hopefully facilitate at-home treatment in an effort to fulfil the global unmet need for phototherapy, typically occurring in rural and LRSs. In particular, this paper focuses on how the results of the needs assessment were cascaded into an innovative product design specification.