Bringing newborn danger signs alive through video: From health workers to mothers

Real-life video is an excellent tool for teaching danger signs to both health workers and mothers. We first developed a film to teach health workers how to recognize danger signs in a newborn with the aim that early recognition will lead to prompt referral. Comparisons of signs between a sick baby and a well baby are especially effective teaching strategies. The film was then adapted to teach mothers. This film for mothers—called “Warning Signs in Newborns”—is less technical in terms of “medical” details, contains several more signs of illness to watch for (signs that if left untreated could result in danger signs), and uses more common language. If mothers recognize any of the warning signs, they are advised to bring their baby to a health worker without delay, day or night. For this presentation, we show two clips—each about four minutes long—to compare the health worker and mother versions of the films.