Low cost infant warmer for premature born baby's

The Story

Embrace has developed an innovative, low cost infant warmer for vulnerable babies in developing countries. Over 20 million low-birth-weight and premature babies are born every year around the world, and over 4 million die within their first month of life. Temperature regulation is a key problem among many of these infants. Embrace is a low-cost warmer that costs 200$, less than 1% of traditional incubators. It has been designed to save premature and low birth weight babies in the developing world. The device requires 30 minutes of little electricity to heat up to constant body temperature, has no moving parts, is portable, easy to clean and is safe and intuitive to use. Embrace aims to help the vulnerable babies born every year around the world, who are unable to access traditional incubators that cost up to $20,000.

The design looks like a miniature sleeping bag that incorporates a phase change material, which stays at a constant temperature for up to 6 hours. This low-cost solution maintains premature and low birth weight babies’ body temperature to help them survive and thrive.

The main components:

• A Pouch that contains saline solution and a heat-storing phase-change material (PCM) within a polyurethane casing
• An electric Heater that heats the Pouch to approximately 37° C, after which the Heater may enter a Dwell Mode in which it keeps the Pouch heated at this temperature.
• A Sleeping Bag that holds the infant and the Pouch in adjacent compartments to promote sustained warming of the infant.

Embrace initially has launched its first product in India and recently teamed up with GE to distribute the warmer more broadly.

Images

Little sleeping bag

components

Little sleeping bag

by Embrace