Start-up Technology for a Vulnerable Population

Imagine. Twenty million low-birth-weight and premature babies are born every year around the world, primarily in developing countries. Four million babies die within the first 28 days of life—nearly 450 babies every hour. Many of these deaths occur in rural settings, where parents have limited healthcare and lack access to Western technologies like incubators.

I’ve met countless women who have lost their babies under these conditions. One mother who has always stood out in my mind is a young woman named Sujatha, who lives in a village in southern India. Sujatha has endured the loss of multiple babies. One child was born in a small, dark and dirty government hospital where newborns are placed directly on the floor due to lack of chairs or beds. Her baby died two days after he was born. Sujatha’s second child was born at home, two months premature, and soon turned blue from hypothermia. Her husband built a glass box and hung a lightbulb over it in a desperate attempt to warm the child, but it was simply not enough. Again they lost a child after two days.

Now imagine

An innovative, affordable infant warmer that doesn’t require a constant supply of electricity, designed for small health clinics around the world. An easy-to-use sleeping bag design that incorporates a phase-change material that, once heated, stays at a constant temperature, to keep babies warm so they can survive and grow up healthy. A portable device that can be used both to care for infants within the clinic and to transport babies to referral hospitals, when necessary. A warm Embrace for the millions of vulnerable newborns in these communities who can’t regulate their own body temperature.

After seeing the Embrace Infant Warmer, Sujatha wept and said:

“If this had been here a few years ago, I could have been a mother. I could have saved my baby. We want to make sure this doesn’t happen to the future mothers of our village.”

Imagine further

A collaboration, between GE Healthcare and Embrace, to distribute this product globally. Better healthcare for people everywhere, starting with the most vulnerable population in this world—the babies who represent the hope for a better tomorrow.

Healthymagination will revolutionize healthcare by providing access to high-quality, low-cost technologies to disadvantaged communities. It represents GE’s bold vision for dramatically improving healthcare in even the most remote corners of the world. This vision is becoming a reality through partnerships with innovative companies like Embrace, which is developing a line of disruptive healthcare technologies for the “bottom of the pyramid.” Together, we will empower the disadvantaged to improve their lives, and ensure every child has a chance for a healthy life. The Infant Warmer is just the start. We hope to partner with GE to deliver many more products to these communities.

While incredibly saddened by the stories I hear every time I visit a village in India, the people I meet are hopeful and courageous, and desperate to lift themselves out of their current conditions. All they need is the opportunity, and access to basic healthcare.

As we left Sujatha’s village, we asked if there was anything she wanted us to bring the next time we came.

Sujatha replied, simply, “better healthcare.”

Through Embrace’s collaboration with healthymagination, we hope to fulfill this wish for Sujatha and the millions of people around the world she represents.