The burden of life-long disabilities arising from brain injury during newborn period is far higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries. The vast majority results from perinatal asphyxia or infection, and often a combination of these.

Whilst cooling therapy reduces death and disability after neonatal encephalopathy in high-income countries, the safety and efficacy of cooling therapy in low and middle-income countries in unknown. Over the past decade, our work has been focused on understanding brain injury after neonatal encephalopathy in low- and middle-income countries and evaluating the safety and efficacy of cooling therapy in these settings. We have set up a consortium of large perinatal centres in South Asia with facilities for 3 Tesla MR imaging and spectroscopy for conducting this work.