In a world of innovation and scientific discovery, modern medicine is always looking for the next technologic breakthrough to save lives. Sometimes however, in order for lives to be saved, science has to put innovation on the backburner and get back to the basics. The problem of developing affordable technology for people in extreme poverty often isn’t merely a lack of funds. The problem lies in translating modern technology or ideas from the developed world into third-world working alternatives.
Worldwide 4 million premature infants die each year. Of these deaths, an overwhelming amount, 3.9 million, occur in the developing world. When babies are born prematurely, their physiologic systems are underdeveloped, leaving their bodies extremely vulnerable to health complications. Temperature regulation is critical for the survival of newborns, especially premature newborns. Right after birth, the body’s metabolic rate surges, resulting in a vast loss of body heat. Since premature infants have low body fat, regulating and maintaining body temperature is very precarious. Incubators provide babies with artificial warmth to prevent the body from losing too much heat that can result in infection, illness and sometimes death.
Availability of incubators in hospital settings of the developed world has made infant death from lack of thermoregulation very uncommon. In the United States, the average infant incubator runs at a cost of about $20,000. This huge price tag puts this essential piece of technology completely out of reach for millions of the world’s neediest newborns. Many premature infants born in the developing world are born in environments that are very remote and have scarce medical resources. So, even in the case that a new mother could make the long and treacherous travel to a hospital, expensive incubators are often in very short supply. In addition, many rural slums and villages of the developing world are not equipped with the electricity or knowledgeable medical personnel needed to run the complicated machines.
A team from Stanford University has come up with a low cost alternative to the modern incubator, which they say has the potential to save tens of thousands of infants’ lives each year. This low-cost infant warmer is designed for the developing world. At a cost of less than 1% of the cost of a traditional incubator, the Embrace infant warmer is a sustainable and viable alternative.
The Embrace infant warmer is a non-electric, miniature sleeping bag that uses a paraffin wax insert to keep premature newborns warm and healthy. The paraffin wax can be heated safely using hot water, and once tucked into the back of the warmer, will maintain a consistent 98 degree temperature for 4 to 6 hours. Infants are wrapped in the pouch, swaddling them in life-saving heat. The pouch is waterproof, hypoallergenic and can be reheated hundreds of time allowing the warmer to help many newborns.
The Embrace infant warmer can not only provide in-hospital care for newborns, but is also transportable and can be used to move newborns from small rural clinics to referral hospitals where they can receive vital care that they need. Embrace is dedicated to infant care, increasing local healthcare access and reducing infant mortality. Its innovative idea and design combines critical aspects of public health and science to produce an cheap and easy to use life-saving device. It is simplistic cost-effective product with a mission to save countless infant lives, allowing millions of vulnerable babies to grow and thrive.
Video Link: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/video/embrace-infant-warmers-save-preemies-chen-jane-ceo-baby-preemies-12388751
References:
Embrace Infant Warmer. (2010). Embrace: a low-cost infant warmer designed for the developing world. Retrieved from http://embraceglobal.org
Lokuge, P.D, Maguire, Y, & Wu, A.S. (2009). Design of a passive incubator for premature infants in the developing world . Retrieved from http://www.stanford.edu/~cbauburn/basecamp/dschool/nepalstudio/MIT%20Premature.pdf
Halliday, H.L, Jenkins, J.G, & Vohra, S.L. (2006). Interventions to prevent hypothermia at birth in preterm and/or low birthweight babies. Cochrane Collaboration, 10. doi: 10.1002/ebch.5
Donato, K. (2006). Infant incubator project: a low-cost, low-energy consumption solution for infant incubators in developing countries. Retrieved from http://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu:8080/bitstream/handle/1774.2/34130/Term%20Paper%201.pdf
Leeann, this is so neat…innovation at its finest, perhaps! Beyond making babies look absolutely adorable and saving lives, this product makes the point that sometimes simplifying the solution down to tackling the fundamental problem, like temperature regulation in this case, can produce highly cost-effective results. Could we take this idea and apply it to our health care system or are the standards too high here to think more low-tech solutions?