Neonatal jaundice affects between 60 and 80 per cent of all newborns within their first two weeks of life, according to the World Health Organisation. 

For most babies, the jaundice resolves by itself, except for about 10 per cent of newborns who will need treatment to correct it.

When detected early, treatment is easy, but if detected late or not treated, the jaundice could develop into severe neurological distress.

Neonatal jaundice is characterised by a yellowish discolouration of the mucous membrane, skin and sclera due to the accumulation of unconjugated, non-polar, lipid-soluble bilirubin pigment in the skin.

Technology to help

To address the difficulty in diagnosing the condition, a Norwegian company, Picterus, has introduced a neonatal jaundice screening device that offers safer screening and visual assessment, both in the hospital and at home.

The Picterus Jaundice Pro, which is a fusion of Picterus calibration card and a smartphone, offers fast, accurate and non-invasive bilirubin screening.

It works by positioning the calibration card of the device on the chest of the baby, and then allows the app to capture the images of the baby's chest, which it uses to generate an instant result.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Tormod Thomsen, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in an interview at the GITEX Global 2025, the world's largest Artificial Intelligence (AI) and technology show underway at Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The company is among the 6,800 tech exhibitors at the show.

Mr Thomsen said the device could be used within the first 14 days of a baby's birth, considering the fact that neonatal jaundice typically occurs between one and 14 days of birth, adding that it could screen multiple babies.

"This is completely harmless and very safe," he added.

Advantage

Touching on the advantage the device had over the current traditional method of drawing blood from newborns to screen them for jaundice, Mr Thomsen highlighted that the device was non-invasive, and as such did not subject newborns unnecessarily to needle pricks, which could be painful to them and traumatic for their mothers watching the pain they would be going through.

Furthermore, he said the result was instant as compared to the traditional one of going to a laboratory to have the test and waiting for days to get the results, by which time complications might have set in.

"If you are a midwife or a health worker and you want to screen multiple babies for jaundice, you can disinfect the card holder after each use on a baby.

There is no limitation on the number of times you can use so long as you keep it in good condition.

The expiry date is five years," he explained.

Mr Thomsen said currently, the device had been approved for use in Tanzania, where they were working with the Ministry of Health, the paediatric and midwives associations there to establish a screening programme on jaundice for them, adding that they were using that to expand into East African countries, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Malawi.

He said they were also close to signing and getting the device used in Nigeria.