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05-09-2015, 01:10 AM
Four Tech**logies Saving Lives this Mother’s Day
USAID’s ‘Saving Lives at Birth’ Grand Challenge Searches the Globe for In**vations That Make an Impact on Maternal and Child Health
As we celebrate Mother’s Day in the United States, we recognize the in**vators who are working hard to protect mothers and their newborn babies in developing countries.
Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development (http://savinglivesatbirth.net/) seeks in**vative ideas that can leapfrog conventional approaches in tech**logy, service delivery, and demand creation to provide better maternal care for families in the developing world.
Saving Lives at Birth, a partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development, Grand Challenges Canada, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DFID and the Government of **rway, has funded 81 in**vations that have harnessed the collective imagination of experts to address the 289,000 maternal deaths, 2.8 million newborn deaths, and 2.6 million stillbirths that occur each year. The majority of these deaths occur in the developing world, and with the right tools, access to quality care, and infrastructure, are preventable.
Thanks to a number of creative in**vations found around the globe, Saving Lives at Birth hopes that more babies will be safely in their healthy mothers’ arms this Mother’s Day. Here are just a few in**vators working to save lives:
Little Sparrows Tech**logies (http://www.savinglivesatbirth.net/summaries/293), based in Winchester Massachusetts, has created a portable phototherapy device for treating jaundice that can be used in poor, rural regions where the mortality fromjaundice*is highest. While blue light phototherapy is an effective treatment in developed countries, the high equipment cost, distribution difficulties and requirement of constant electric power have created barriers in developing countries. Many mothers must travel hours to reach the treatment for their babies, putting them at high risk for adverse outcomes. Little Sparrows Tech**logies’ Bili-Hut creates a lightweight, portable, battery powered phototherapy device to overcome this barrier for mothers and babies, especially in rural regions of India.
Massachusetts General Hospital (http://www.savinglivesatbirth.net/summaries/255)is working to combat*postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), the most common cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in developing countries. They have developed*an ultra low-cost (less than $5) uterine balloon tamponade kit that is modeled after the manufactured medical balloons used in U.S. hospitals, which are single-use and can cost over $400 each. Massachusetts General Hospital’s new Uterine Balloon Tamponade (ESM-UBT) can be assembled from components readily available in developing countries.* In areas where surgical and pharmaceutical interventions are **t available, the UBT device – which uses a common condom as a balloon – has been shown to effectively stop maternal bleeding.
Laerdal Global Health (http://www.savinglivesatbirth.net/summaries/294)of **rway has created a low-cost fetal heart rate monitor that reduces the rate of stillbirths. Ninety-nine percent of the almost 2 million annual perinatal deaths occur in low and middle-income countries. This new device, MOYO, can take an accurate pulse for both baby and mother in 2-10 seconds, much faster than existing tech**logies that take between 1-3 minutes to make the diag**sis. Coupled with an in**vative training program to care for babies with low heart rates, this rapid detection of ab**rmal fetal heart rate can often mean the difference between life and death for mothers and their babies.
Changamka Microhealth (http://savinglivesatbirth.net/summaries/334), based in Nairobi, has created an in**vative e-voucher system to help mothers in Nairobi access safe birth facilities staffed by skilled medical personnel. The working poor in Kenya are excluded from the conventional government and private insurance plans and essentially have ** access to affordable healthcare. Changamka is lowering financial and informational barriers to medical care through an e-voucher program that covers the costs of maternity care at a safe birth facility, along with a system of text message reminders that communicate important information to pregnant and at-risk women.
With inventive solutions and new medical tech**logies, in**vators are combating the risks that mothers often face when giving birth in the developing world. For more information, or to find out how you can submit your own lifesaving idea, visit Saving Lives at (http://savinglivesatbirth.net/)Birth (http://savinglivesatbirth.net/). (http://savinglivesatbirth.net/)
The Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development partnership, launched in 2011, is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of **rway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada (funded by the Government of Canada), and the U.K’s Department for International Development (DFID).
The post Four Tech**logies Saving Lives this Mother’s Day (http://www.medgadget.com/2015/05/four-tech**logies-saving-lives-mothers-day.html) appeared first on Medgadget (http://www.medgadget.com).
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USAID’s ‘Saving Lives at Birth’ Grand Challenge Searches the Globe for In**vations That Make an Impact on Maternal and Child Health
As we celebrate Mother’s Day in the United States, we recognize the in**vators who are working hard to protect mothers and their newborn babies in developing countries.
Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development (http://savinglivesatbirth.net/) seeks in**vative ideas that can leapfrog conventional approaches in tech**logy, service delivery, and demand creation to provide better maternal care for families in the developing world.
Saving Lives at Birth, a partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development, Grand Challenges Canada, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DFID and the Government of **rway, has funded 81 in**vations that have harnessed the collective imagination of experts to address the 289,000 maternal deaths, 2.8 million newborn deaths, and 2.6 million stillbirths that occur each year. The majority of these deaths occur in the developing world, and with the right tools, access to quality care, and infrastructure, are preventable.
Thanks to a number of creative in**vations found around the globe, Saving Lives at Birth hopes that more babies will be safely in their healthy mothers’ arms this Mother’s Day. Here are just a few in**vators working to save lives:
Little Sparrows Tech**logies (http://www.savinglivesatbirth.net/summaries/293), based in Winchester Massachusetts, has created a portable phototherapy device for treating jaundice that can be used in poor, rural regions where the mortality fromjaundice*is highest. While blue light phototherapy is an effective treatment in developed countries, the high equipment cost, distribution difficulties and requirement of constant electric power have created barriers in developing countries. Many mothers must travel hours to reach the treatment for their babies, putting them at high risk for adverse outcomes. Little Sparrows Tech**logies’ Bili-Hut creates a lightweight, portable, battery powered phototherapy device to overcome this barrier for mothers and babies, especially in rural regions of India.
Massachusetts General Hospital (http://www.savinglivesatbirth.net/summaries/255)is working to combat*postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), the most common cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in developing countries. They have developed*an ultra low-cost (less than $5) uterine balloon tamponade kit that is modeled after the manufactured medical balloons used in U.S. hospitals, which are single-use and can cost over $400 each. Massachusetts General Hospital’s new Uterine Balloon Tamponade (ESM-UBT) can be assembled from components readily available in developing countries.* In areas where surgical and pharmaceutical interventions are **t available, the UBT device – which uses a common condom as a balloon – has been shown to effectively stop maternal bleeding.
Laerdal Global Health (http://www.savinglivesatbirth.net/summaries/294)of **rway has created a low-cost fetal heart rate monitor that reduces the rate of stillbirths. Ninety-nine percent of the almost 2 million annual perinatal deaths occur in low and middle-income countries. This new device, MOYO, can take an accurate pulse for both baby and mother in 2-10 seconds, much faster than existing tech**logies that take between 1-3 minutes to make the diag**sis. Coupled with an in**vative training program to care for babies with low heart rates, this rapid detection of ab**rmal fetal heart rate can often mean the difference between life and death for mothers and their babies.
Changamka Microhealth (http://savinglivesatbirth.net/summaries/334), based in Nairobi, has created an in**vative e-voucher system to help mothers in Nairobi access safe birth facilities staffed by skilled medical personnel. The working poor in Kenya are excluded from the conventional government and private insurance plans and essentially have ** access to affordable healthcare. Changamka is lowering financial and informational barriers to medical care through an e-voucher program that covers the costs of maternity care at a safe birth facility, along with a system of text message reminders that communicate important information to pregnant and at-risk women.
With inventive solutions and new medical tech**logies, in**vators are combating the risks that mothers often face when giving birth in the developing world. For more information, or to find out how you can submit your own lifesaving idea, visit Saving Lives at (http://savinglivesatbirth.net/)Birth (http://savinglivesatbirth.net/). (http://savinglivesatbirth.net/)
The Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development partnership, launched in 2011, is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of **rway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada (funded by the Government of Canada), and the U.K’s Department for International Development (DFID).
The post Four Tech**logies Saving Lives this Mother’s Day (http://www.medgadget.com/2015/05/four-tech**logies-saving-lives-mothers-day.html) appeared first on Medgadget (http://www.medgadget.com).
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Medgadget?d=yIl2AUoC8zA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Medgadget?a=Sk3HfVtZVnk:YSzUao7q27M:yIl2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Medgadget?d=qj6IDK7rITs (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Medgadget?a=Sk3HfVtZVnk:YSzUao7q27M:qj6IDK7rITs) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Medgadget?i=Sk3HfVtZVnk:YSzUao7q27M:gIN9vFwOqvQ (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Medgadget?a=Sk3HfVtZVnk:YSzUao7q27M:gIN9vFwOqvQ)
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