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Background: Newborn jaundice has remained one of the leading causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. It is believed that delays in detection and/or inappropriate treatment may largely be responsible for this. Given that most mothers are now discharged home 24 hours after a normal delivery, the responsibility to detect jaundice in the new-born and take appropriate decision now rest with the mothers. This study therefore sought to evaluate the knowledge and perception of newborn jaundice among parturient mothers. Method: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out among 255 parturient mothers at the lying-in ward of Mariere Memorial Central Hospital. A structured, pre-tested, interviewer administered questionnaire was used to obtain information from the mothers. SPSS version 16 was employed in the analysis of the data. Results: Of the 255 parturient mothers interviewed, only 156 (61.2%) affirmed their awareness of newborn jaundice and only these mothers were further analysed. Their mean age was 30.2±5.4 and a median parity of 2. Thirty-seven (23.7%) of the mothers had tertiary education and just about half (50.6%) of the mothers knew that newborn jaundice presents with yellowish discoloration of the body and sclera. Three (1.9%) of the mothers knew that haemolysis is an underlying cause of jaundice and four (2.6%) mothers each correctly mentioned phototherapy and exchange blood transfusion as treatment modalities. Health talk given at the antenatal clinic was the source of information by 81 (51.9%) of the mothers. Conclusion: This study showed that the knowledge of risk factors/causes, treatment and complication of newborn jaundice by mothers is unsatisfactory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effectiveness of simple-to-implement adjustments of phototherapy devices on irradiance levels in a cross-section of Nigerian hospitals. A total of 76 phototherapy devices were evaluated in 16 hospitals while adjustments were implemented for a subset of 25 devices for which consent was obtained. The mean irradiance level was 7.6 ± 5.9 µW/cm2/nm for all devices prior to adjustments. The average irradiance level improved from 9.0 µW/cm2/nm to 27.3 µW/cm2/nm for the adjusted group (n = 25) compared with 6.8 ± 5.4 µW/cm2/nm for the unadjusted group (n = 51). Simple, inexpensive adjustments to phototherapy devices with sub-optimal irradiance levels can significantly improve their effectiveness to acceptable international standards and should be widely promoted in resource-constrained settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]