Cardboard incubator by Indian student

November 12, 2015 Innovation Valli Sarvani No comments

A low cost baby incubator has been designed by an Indian student living in London. Malav Sanghav is the student who created the prototype of the low cost baby incubator. The technology has the potential to save the lives of many children across the world.

The cardboard incubator called BabyLifeBox will be potentially lifesaving in many situations. Malav is studying for his Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) Master’s dual degree course at Imperial College London and Royal College of Art.

He graduated from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad. He won 3rd prize for his innovation at a start-up competition held at St James’ Palace in London.

The incubator he developed can be used in developing countries like India. It is especially useful in rural areas which lack proper infrastructure for giving proper neonatal care to premature and underweight infants. The incubator is equipped with basic functions which are necessary for the survival of premature and underweight babies in the first days of life. Furthermore, the bottom part of the incubator can be given to the parent of the child after birth to be used as a make shift cot.

Studies done on premature babies have shown that there are more than 300,000 babies who die within 24 hours of their birth every year in India. It is shocking to know that most of these deaths are due to preventable conditions like complications during birth, premature birth and infections.

Another surprising find is that more than half of all Indian women give birth without any assistance from certified health care professionals. This has caused many complications while giving birth. Malav got the idea for his innovation few years ago when he saw how his cousin’s daughter had to be kept alive in an incubator. He thought about the women in village who couldn’t get facilities like incubators. He is now looking for initial seed funding to expand his team and also seek more expert advice. He also wants to starts clinical trials soon.