HELPING WOMEN HELP THEMSELVES
On this International Women’s Day, Sick Kids’ doctor talks about saving newborns in developing nations,
Giving birth to a baby should be one of the most joyous moments in a mother’s life. But every year, millions of women in the developing world will see their babies die.
The Centre for Global Child Health team at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children is at the forefront of working to break this deadly cycle — from studying what prompts mothers in Mali and Ethiopia to breastfeed their infants exclusively, to developing the first pediatric nursing program in West Africa.
To mark International Women’s Day, Dr. Lisa Pell, the centre’s clinical research project manager, spoke with the Star about a project that is helping women help themselves: a tool kit designed to save newborns.
Pell hopes its easy-to-use, portable tools, assembled for less than $5 each, will improve survival rates in developing nations.
The kit includes a sterilizing gel to clean the umbilical stub and sunflower oil for massaging a newborn to reduce the chance of infection or hypothermia.
There’s a plastic mat for use during delivery, gloves, hand soap for the person assisting, a sterile blade to cut the umbilical cord, and cord clamps.
The kit also includes an ingenious thermometer: a dime-sized sticker called ThermoSpot, which changes colour with the newborn’s temperature.
“This is particularly advantageous in settings where literacy rates are low,” explains Pell. “For example, a mother can look at a sticker that is bright green and know the temperature is normal, but if the sticker turns blue, that indicates fever, and if it turns black or red, it indicates hypothermia.”
“We also have interventions to manage hypothermia,” says Pell. “We provide a Mylar blanket — the silver blankets you get when you run a marathon — that you wrap the baby in, and it reflects ambient heat.” A small click-to-heat warmer included in the kit can be placed at the bottom of the blanket.
“Together, all these components are delivered to pregnant women, who are taught how to use them during delivery and the first month of their babies’ lives,” she adds.
Pell hopes delivering the kit and teaching women how to use it will reduce neonatal mortality rates, which are very high in several countries where the centre operates, by about 40 per cent. Trials are currently running in Kenya and Pakistan.
Why should Canadians care about these issues?
“I think there’s a lot of evidence that health is very closely linked to social and economic development. Children who suffer from infection and/or malnutrition early in life may be less likely to reach their full developmental potential and therefore less likely to get an education, become productive adults who then contribute to their families, communities, and countries as a whole. It becomes an endless cycle of lost opportunity. Since we live in an increasingly globalized world, this is something that the whole world should be aware of, and of course, there are the moral implications of appreciating the rights to health of everybody.”
How can ordinary Canadians help?
“I think it starts with awareness. Being well-read and understanding (that you have) to look at issues through more of a global lens is helpful. It could change the way policy is developed, if regular Canadians truly believe in the cause of global child health.” Let’s switch gears a bit. Only 25 per cent of leadership roles in health care belong to women, though the majority of global health studies students are female. How can that be fixed?
“I’ve had a lot of positive female role models, specifically within the SickKids community, and perhaps what could be done is (to provide) more leadership and training grants geared toward women, mentorship programs where current leaders mentor junior scientists, and we could potentially alter hiring practices across different organizations.” What advice do you have for women who want to work in global health?
“Find something you’re passionate about, and don’t be afraid to take a risk. I have 10 years of research experience from a basic science point of view. My background is in biochemistry. Quite late in my science career, I made a somewhat dramatic change and started studying public health, and that was a huge risk for me and a difficult decision to make, but it’s something I thought was very important.” This interview has been edited for length and clarity.