The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $8.4 million over four years to Boston University’s Center for Global Health and Development to study whether using an antiseptic wash to clean a newborn’s umbilical cord stump, compared to just letting it dry, improves newborn survival rates in Zambia. The Gates Foundation website doesn’t provide many details, nor could I locate details on the BU website.

Yes, it’s true that the first few days of life are very risky for newborns especially in low-income contexts. And yes, it’s true that something seemingly so manageable as care of the umbilical stump can lead to a baby’s death through infection. And yes, there is more to it than using an antiseptic or opting for a dry approach, as a recent study conducted in Bangladesh shows.

So the question is important and more complicated than it appears to be. But $8.4 million dollars?