A new solution for saving premature infants has arrived in the form of an affordable inflatable incubator.
The prototype for the device, called MOM, was created by Loughborough University graduate James Roberts, who aims to make the incubator available to people in the developing world, BBC News reported. He said he was inspired to develop the project after watching a documentary on TV.
"I was watching a Panorama programme on BBC about Syrian refugees, and they had a segment about how there are loads of premature kids dying because of the stresses of war and specifically the lack of incubators out there and the infrastructure to support them," Roberts said.
Features of MOM include sensors for monitoring the heat and temperature inside so the baby is comfortable, as well as a collapsible phototherapy unit for treated infants suffering from jaundice, Popular Science reported. The incubator is also designed to run on a car battery for an additional 24 hours, in case of a power outage.
The World Health Organization says that more than one million children die each year because of issues with premature births. The mortality rate for babies is much higher in developing countries, where most people don't have access to training medical professionals or equipment used for preterm births.
Twenty three-year-old Roberts said that while standard incubators cost a lot of money because of the need for huge boxes to carry them, MOM can be carried in care packages that are often used for refugee camps, BBC News reported. The device only costs about 250 pounds (around $400) to make, and it can work just as well as modern systems used to help infants.
MOM has gained enough praise to win Roberts the 2014 James Dyson Award, which focuses on inventions designed for solving different problems in the world. Roberts plans to use the 30,000-pounds (about $48,000) from the award to further develop the incubator, which he hopes to make available to the public by 2017.
