Day One Health addresses multiple challenges that hospitals in low-resource environments face with equipment in reducing neonatal mortality and morbidity. With its partners, Day One Health uses a three-part model that develops and provides appropriate equipment, intensive training, and ongoing support to program facilities. This model helps save the lives and health of newborns suffering from common and easily treatable conditions such as jaundice, respiratory distress, sepsis, and hypothermia.
APPROPRIATE EQUIPMENT
The program provides low-cost, appropriate, and durable medical equipment produced by Medical Technology Transfer and Services (MTTS), a medical device company based in Hanoi, Vietnam. Neonatal equipment includes phototherapy machines to treat jaundice, Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines to treat respiratory distress syndrome, infant warmers to prevent hypothermia, and alcohol-based hand gel containing chlorhexidine to control infection. Day One Health also often provides medical devices produced by other, similar-minded, social enterprises producing devices appropriate for low-resource environments.
INTENSIVE TRAINING
The program provides intensive training for nurses, physicians, and technicians. Topics include proper machine usage, jaundice prevention and treatment, thermal regulation, infection control, respiratory distress syndrome management, CPAP ventilation, and prevention of retinopathy of prematurity. Following initial trainings at national referral facilities, a train-the- trainer methodology systematically radiates knowledge and practice throughout a country’s public health system.
MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT
Ongoing maintenance and support of medical devices to ensure function and use is key to the program’s success. Day One Health partners with local technicians to ensure machines are repaired and maintained with locally-available parts. To offer ongoing support, the program monitors equipment usage to rapidly identify problems and ensure proper usage of equipment.
