Understanding Neonatal Jaundice in Rwanda
Understanding Neonatal Jaundice in Rwanda
This study exploits the distribution of low-cost high-quality phototherapy devices
 (Brilliance by D-Rev) to public hospitals in Rwanda to assess whether the provision of
 improved technology improves health care for infant jaundice. Specifically, the investigators
 are interested in measuring whether the provision of an additional high-quality phototherapy
 device, a known effective treatment for jaundice, successfully translates into improved care
 of neonatal jaundice in Rwanda where the burden of jaundice is particularly high.
The Ministry of Health (MIH) in Rwanda has planned to provide Brilliance devices
 (phototherapy) to 46 public hospitals in Rwanda. The investigators have worked with MIH to
 have the delivery of these machines be staggered over three phases through random selection.
 The methodology relies on the staggered distribution of Brilliance devices and survey data
 collected prior and during delivery dates to evaluate the provision of low-cost high quality
 phototherapy machines, following the basic design of a staggered randomized controlled trial.
 Specifically, the investigators will survey all hospitals prior to the receipt of any
 Brilliance devices to provide a baseline description of the care received in these
 facilities. These surveys will collect information on the facility itself, including average
 infant jaundice caseloads and descriptions of recent cases. The investigators will then
 randomly select 15 hospitals to receive the Brilliance units. Three months after installation
 of Brilliance has occurred at these facilities (Group 1), another randomly selected subset of
 16 facilities (Group 2) will receive their Brilliance machines. Three months after these
 installations have been completed, the remaining facilities (Group 3) will receive their
 Brilliance machines. During this period, there will be ongoing data collection from the
 hospitals, creating a panel dataset on the jaundice-related caseloads at these facilities.
 The data collected will be akin to collecting hospital records of patients diagnosed with
 jaundice, but no identifiable patient information will be collected.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  For patient level record (de-identified), diagnosed by the facility for having infant
 jaundice

 -  The facilities are included based on selection by the Ministry of Health for receiving
 additional phototherapy machines.

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -