METHODS
Trial setting
The Tu Du Hospital was a major birthing unit in Ho Chi
Minh City, Vietnam, with approximately 60 000 deliveries
per year and 1200 obstetric beds. The neonatal unit had 180
beds and admitted 16 200 neonatal cases in 2012, the year
of the study. The proportion of LBW babies was 12.5% in
this hospital. Intensive care facilities were under severe
pressure and incubators routinely held three small babies
at a time. The hospital’s protocol required that all babies
under 2.5 kg or