Round 5 Finalists

Hypothermia and infection are among top health issues facing newborns in LMIC. Regular temperature monitoring is an effective means of detection and prevention of hypothermia but in our extensive field research, we observed that newborn temperature monitoring is rarely practiced in under-resourced clinics and uneducated homes. After vetting the need with over 75 paediatricians and filtering through several proposed solutions, we are developing Bempu, a novel, simple low-cost newborn temperature monitoring wristband.

Annually, 120,000 HIV-exposed infants are born in Uganda with nearly 16,000 becoming HIV-infected through transmission from their HIV-positive mothers during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding. Antiretroviral prophylaxis given from birth to six weeks of age can dramatically reduce the risk of transmission, yet 68% of HIV-exposed infants do not receive critical nevirapine (NVP) prophylaxis in Uganda. The Pratt Pouch, a foilized, polyethylene pouch (similar to a ketchup pouch) designed and proven to safely store NVP doses, offers an innovative way to expand NVP coverage.

Postpartum haemorrhage is the largest cause of maternal mortality in Tanzania, yet many of these women could be saved with a blood transfusion. Lack of fast, affordable delivery of blood profoundly restricts the number of lifesaving transfusions performed in the Dodoma region. We will use an autonomous Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) called Stork to transport screened and typed blood from a blood bank in Dodoma to peripheral health facilities, on-demand. In many cases, ground transport of blood would either be impossible or too costly using traditional means.

1.8 million Stillbirths and newborn deaths occur annually due to oxygen deprivation, but up to 70% of these deaths are avoidable by effective ventilation at birth. Unfortunately, one in five of the best-trained health workers fail to effectively ventilate babies and those that do, experience a rapid decline in proficiency. Every 30 second delay to ventilate a baby at birth increases the risk of death by 16%. The common causes of ineffective ventilation are: 1. Failed seal at the face-mask, 2. Blocked airways, and 3. Incorrect ventilation frequency.

Globally, MTCT of HIV results in approximately 230,000 infant infections each year. In 2013 the WHO recommended VL testing as the preferred monitoring tool for diagnosing and confirming failure on ART.

The World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund recommend hand expression of breast milk and use of a small cup to feed newborns with breastfeeding difficulties in low-resource settings, yet no standard infant feeding cup exists. The NIFTY™ cup is a simple, safe, ergonomic, and affordable tool designed to optimize the efficient hand expression and feeding of breast milk to newborn preterm infants and other infants with breastfeeding difficulties.

Worldwide, 113 million women have unmet contraceptive needs. If these needs were met 54 million unintended pregnancies would be prevented, 26 million abortions avoided (16 million of which are unsafe), 7 million miscarriages averted, 79 thousand maternal and 1.1 million infant deaths avoided.

Iron, folic acid and B12 deficiency contributes to maternal,infant and neonatal deaths annually. Folic acid deficiency also leads to serious birth defects and neonatal development problems. Salt is universally consumed at a constant, predictable level independently of social status. Our approach is to develop innovative technology for incorporating these micronutrients into salt at levels that can have a significant beneficial health effect.

Currently, the three options for managing prolonged second stage of labour are forceps, vacuum extractor or caesarean section. All these interventions require relatively expensive equipment (e.g. operative theatre for caesarean section, maintenance of vacuum extractor) and highly trained health professionals. In addition, all these options are associated with increased risk of maternal and perinatal complications.