EFFICACY OF CHLORHEXIDINE GEL IN REDUCING NEONATAL UMBILICAL CORD INFECTION IN NEPAL

10^th World Congress on HEALTHCARE & TECHNOLOGIES

July 17-18, 2017 | Lisbon, Portugal

Pratibha Chalise, Pushpanjali Shakya and Muhammad Zaman

NTNU, Norway
Boston University, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Health Med Informat

Abstract :

Neonatal infection contributes around one third of global neonatal deaths and most of them occur in developing countries including Nepal. Using traditional harmful substances like mustard oil, turmeric, cow dung, ash, etc on umbilical cord are still prevalent in many developing countries leading to neonatal umbilical cord infection. In this article, review is done to see if chlorhexidine is efficient to use as an antiseptics to prevent umbilical cord infection. There is substantial evidence to show that chlorhexidine can be effective to reduce neonatal infection and mortality in developing countries, more importantly cheap alternative to replace the harmful cultural practices. It has also increased awareness among people about importance of safe umbilical cord care to some extent. However, detailed study is needed to see its side effect on neonates. Quality control could be challenging for countries to scale up chlorhexidine if rules and regulations have pit holes. Long term strategies of controlling infection and promoting handwashing and hygiene should be considered along with use of chlorhexidine.