Community Trial of Newborn Skin and Umbilical Cord Cleansing on Neonatal Mortality in Nepal
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00109616 |
Recruitment Status :
Completed
First Posted : May 2, 2005
Last Update Posted : May 1, 2013
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Neonatal mortality and morbidity is common in Nepal and the vast majority of women deliver babies at home without a skilled birth attendant.
The purpose of this project is two-fold: 1) to evaluate whether washing a newborn child with a dilute antiseptic solution soon after birth can reduce mortality in the first 4 weeks of life and 2) to evaluate whether cleaning the umbilical cord and stump with either soap and water or an antiseptic solution for the first few days of life can reduce umbilical cord infections.
Condition or disease | Intervention/treatment | Phase |
---|---|---|
Neonatal Mortality | Behavioral: Newborn skin cleansing with 0.25% chlorhexidine solution Behavioral: Cleansing of umbilical cord with soap and water solution Behavioral: Cleansing of umbilical cord with 4% chlorhexidine | Phase 3 |
While significant progress has been made in reducing preschool child mortality in developing countries over the past 20 years, much less progress has been made in reducing neonatal mortality and morbidity. Neonatal mortality rates are high in Nepal; a significant proportion of which are due to sepsis. In addition, the vast majority of women deliver babies at home without a skilled birth attendant and early neonatal care is routinely used in rural areas. Previous hospital-based research in Malawi suggested that newborn cleansing with a dilute chlorhexidine solution could reduce early infant mortality. This project evaluates the use of a simple intervention at the community level and the impact on neonatal mortality.
Comparisons: Two nested community-based randomized trials are being conducted. The first compares the neonatal mortality rates between newborn infants randomized to receive a whole body skin cleansing soon after birth with baby wipes impregnated with 0.25% chlorhexidine compared with newborns cleaned with baby wipes with a placebo solution. The second trial compares the rates of umbilical cord infections among children assigned to three groups:
- education of the mother on clean cord care alone;
- education of the mother plus routine washing of the cord and stump with soap and water solution for the first 10 days of life; -OR-
- education of the mother plus routine washing of the cord and stump with a 4% chlorhexidine solution.
Enrolled infants are visited on a regular basis during the first month of life to record vital status and grade the cord for signs of infection.
Study Type : | Interventional (Clinical Trial) |
Enrollment : | 17000 participants |
Allocation: | Randomized |
Intervention Model: | Parallel Assignment |
Masking: | Double |
Primary Purpose: | Prevention |
Official Title: | Newborn Antiseptic Washing and Neonatal Mortality-Nepal |
Study Start Date : | October 2002 |
Study Completion Date : | January 2006 |
- neonatal mortality
- umbilical cord infection

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Ages Eligible for Study: | up to 10 Days (Child) |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | All |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | Yes |
Inclusion Criteria:
- All liveborn infants born in the study area
Exclusion Criteria:
- Newborn infants who died prior to study staff arriving to conduct the interventions

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00109616
United States, Maryland | |
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health | |
Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21205-2103 | |
Nepal | |
Nepal Nutrition Intervention Project-Sarlahi | |
Kathmandu and Sarlahi District, Nepal |
Principal Investigator: | James M Tieslch, PhD | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health |
Other Publications:
Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT00109616 |
Other Study ID Numbers: |
R01HD044004 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract ) R01HD044004 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract ) |
First Posted: | May 2, 2005 Key Record Dates |
Last Update Posted: | May 1, 2013 |
Last Verified: | January 2006 |
neonatal mortality chlorhexidine newborn cleansing umbilical cord care |
community-based trial prevention trial omphalitis |
Chlorhexidine Chlorhexidine gluconate Pharmaceutical Solutions Anti-Infective Agents, Local |
Anti-Infective Agents Disinfectants Dermatologic Agents |