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U.S. Students Invent Low-cost Tech For African Newborns

U.S. Students Invent Low-cost Tech For African Newborns

U.S. grad students invented low-cost technology to cut down on respiratory distress that claims the lives of about 1 million African newborns each year, according to a report MedicalXPress.

The technology, known as “bubble CPAP,” was invented by Rice University bioengineering students. It will be rolled out to teaching hospitals in three African countries thanks to a $400,000 award from pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, MedicalXPress reports.

Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, the University of Malawi College of Medicine and Rice University’s Rice 360°: Institute for Global Health Technologies are partnering to distribute bubble CPAPs to 27 hospitals in Malawi. The life-saving technology will be shared with teaching hospitals in Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa.

The Rice technology is a low-cost version of continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, a standard feature of most neonatal units in the developed world. CPAP helps babies in  by keeping their lungs inflated so they can breathe more easily.

Priced around $6,000, conventional CPAP machines are too expensive for hospitals in the developing world, the MedicalXPress report said. The low-cost version can be produced for  about $400, according to a report in NyasaTimes.

In clinical trials, bubble CPAP increased the survival rate of newborns with respiratory distress by 27 percent. It is estimated that the technology could save the lives of 178,000 African children if implemented throughout Africa.