Neopenda
PAIN
Nearly 3 million newborns do not survive their first month in low-resource settings, but 80 percent of these deaths could be preventable with the right tools. One important tool is the neonatal monitor. However, gold-star monitors used in high-resource hospitals are prohibitively expensive and inappropriately designed.
Opportunity
To create locally appropriate tools, Neopenda designed a neonatal vital signs monitor specifically for low-resource settings, where continuous power and wireless connectivity may not be available. The wearable device integrates continuous monitoring of pulse rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen saturation, and temperature, and collects continuous sensor data at the point of care.
The device wirelessly sends vital signs data from multiple infants to a single tablet. On the tablet, nurses can view the health status of all patients in real time, access health statistics and historical data, and receive alerts if patient vital signs go outside a healthy range.
During COVID-19 the device band has been modified to serve adult and pediatric wards with the aim of reducing the risk of infections amongst frontline workers.
Global Impact
- Most commercially available medical devices fail to meet the unique constraints of 85 percent of the world’s population in emerging markets.
- In Africa alone, this presents a US $7.1 billion market opportunity that’s growing nearly four times faster than in the US.
- Within only three patient populations, there’s a US $715 million market opportunity in emerging markets: neonatal, pediatric, and community health workers.
