sourav mohanto*, shubhrajit mantry · babies through a low cost infant warmer, designed for a...

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SHORT COMMUNICATION ARTICLE

Department of Pharmaceutics

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Sourav et.al / UJPSR / 2 (2), 2016, 47-51e ISSN: 2454-3764

Print ISSN: 2454-3756

Vol.2, Issue 2

Abstract

Key wordsEmbrace, Infant Warmer, phase change material.

INTRODUCTION

DOI: 10.21276/UJPSR.2016.02.02.86

EMBRACE WARMERSourav Mohanto*, Shubhrajit Mantry

Department of Pharmaceutics, Himalayan Pharmacy Institute, Majhitar, Rangpo,E. Sikkim – 737136, INDIA

ARTICLE INFO:

Article history: Received:10 July 2016Received in revised form:21 September 2016Accepted: 02 October 2016Available online: 10 November 2016

Corresponding Author:

Sourav MohantoDepartment of Pharmaceutics,Himalayan Pharmacy Institute,Majhitar, Rangpo,E. Sikkim – 737136, INDIAEmail: [email protected]: +91 8967305415

Embrace is a social enterprise that aims to help millions of vulnerable babies through a low cost infant warmer, designed for a resource constrained area with limited or no electricity. The Embrace Infant Warmer costs a fraction of the price of current equipment used for keeping babies warm. The design looked something like a sleeping bag. It wrapped around a premature infant, and a pouch of phase change material (PCM) kept the baby body at exactly the right temperature and maintained this temperature for up to 4hrs. After 4 hrs the PCM pouch could be recharged by sub-merging it in boiling water for few mins. The embrace incubator is small and light, making it easy and inexpensive to transport to rural villages .The product uses an innovative wax incorporated in a sleeping bag to regulate a baby's temperature. It stays warm without electricity, has no moving parts, is portable and is safe and intuitive to use. The product details, history, team members name, current status of Embrace Infant Warmer are discussed in this article.

Embrace is a social enterprise that aims to help millions of vulnerable babies through a low cost infant warmer, designed for a resource constrained area with limited or no electricity. The Embrace Infant Warmer costs a fraction of the price of current equipment used for keeping babies warm [1]. Sometimes it is the simplest of medical inventions that save millions of lives. Every year 20million babies are born premature and they do not have enough fat on their tiny bodies to keep warm. Approximately 14% of babies are born are considered low birth weight, but these babies account for 60-80% of neonatal deaths. In developing countries, mortality for these infants is particularly high because incubators are

extremely rare. Most hospitals and clinics in developing countries do not have enough incubators to meet the tremendous need. New incubators are extremely expensive and donated incubators are confusing to operate and are difficult to maintain and repair. In the developed world, these babies are typically placed in an incubator until they are able to make it on their own. The solution is to keep premature babies warm but an incubator costs $20,000 and requires electricity which is difficult to find in developing countries, particularly in rural areas. As a result, 4million premature babies die each year. Two-thirds of deaths occur in ten countries and 40% of those occur in India [2].

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Print ISSN: 2454-3756DOI: 10.21276/UJPSR.2016.02.02.86PROJECT LAUNCHED [2]

Extreme team in 2007, company formed in 2008.

TEAM MEMBERS [2]All original team members are still with the company. Linus Liang, Jane Chen, Rahul Panicker, etc. In addition

Naganand Murty from other extreme incubator team help found the company.

THE INSIGHTThe embrace team began their need finding in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. After spending several days observing the neonatal unit of the Kathmandu hospital, the team asked to be taken outside the city to see how premature infants were cared for in rural areas. They learned two alarming things: First, the overwhelming majority of all premature infants were born in these rural areas and Second most of these infants would never make it to a hospital [2-4]. After graduating chen and panicker began working on the product full time, securing funding and conducting field research in India. Liang and Murty rejoined the team and helped refine the design based on feedback from small-town

doctors, midwives and mothers in India. By then, prototypes included a separate warming device and removable packets of eicosane, a melt point near that of the temperature of the human body. But eicosane proved to be too expensive. In 2009, on a suggestion from engineers at a seattle nonprofit, the embrace team began testing Entropy solutions pure Temp phase change material in prototypes. The team was delighted with the results [5]. In 2011, after years of research prototyping and testing, the first embrace infant warmer was delivered to Little Flower Hospital in Bangalore, India [5,6].

Fig.1: EMBRACE WARMER




Print ISSN: 2454-3756DOI: 10.21276/UJPSR.2016.02.02.86


THE PRODUCT

By the end of class, the team had created their first prototype of the embrace incubator. The design looked something like a sleeping bag. It wrapped around a premature infant, and a pouch of phase change material (PCM) kept the baby's body at exactly the right temperature and maintained this temperature for up to 4hrs. After 4hrs the PCM pouch could be recharged by sub-merging it in boiling water for few mins [1,2,4]. The embrace incubator is small and light, making it easy and inexpensive to transport to rural villages. The entire sleeping bag can be sanitized in boiling water. Its far more intuitive to use than traditional incubators and fits well

into recommended practice of “kangaroo care'' where a mother holds her baby against her skin [2-4]. The product uses an innovative wax incorporated in a sleeping bag to regulate a baby's temperature. Before each use, the pouch is placed the warmer to melt the PCM. The heated pouch is zipped inside. The pouch remains at 98.6 degrees for at least four hours. If the baby gets too cold, pure Temp releases heat. An indicator on the pouch shows when it must be reheated, and the pouch can be reheated hundreds of times. It stays warm without electricity, has no moving parts, is portable and is safe and intuitive to use [1,2,4].

Fig. 2: CONTENT OF EMBRACE WARMER

CURRENT STATUS

Since the class ended, the embrace team has pushed

forward. They strengthened their team with several new

members, incorporated as a non-profit and began to

refine their business plan and seek funding. Embrace

began to win awards and small amounts of seed funding

from business plan competitions and attract media

attention. Encouraged by these small victories, embrace

refund their design and is currently preparing for clinical

trials in India [2-4]. First version of the product launched

in 2011, for clinical settings and is currently being

distributed to clinics in South India, where dozens of

babies have already been impacted. The embrace team

consists of 35 people, primarily located in Bangalore,

India. Customer includes private clinics, government

clinics, and NGO's. Clinical studies have been

conducted at multiple hospitals in India, as well as at the

Lucile Packard Children's hospital. The organization has

received its ISO certification, and will soon be applying

for international regulatory approvals [2].






Fig. 3: WORKING OF EMBRACE WARMER

AT A GLANCE

NAME

Embrace Warmer

KEY PEOPLE

Jane Chen(Co-Founder), Linus Liang(Co-Founder), Rahul Panicker (Co-Founder), Naganand Murty,

(Co-Founder), Razmig Hovaghimian (Co-Founder)

OBJECTIVE

To prevent the premature death of baby's

MATERIAL USED

Phase change Material (wax)

TEMPARATURE AND TIME

37 degree and 4 hours

PRICE

Maximum 25-30 $

ADVANTAGES

Without electricity, inexpensive, be-transportable, intuitive, sanitizable.






REFERENCE

1. www.embraceglobal.org.

2. h t t p : / / e x t re m e . s t a n f o rd . e d u / p ro j e c t s / embracewarmer.

3. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/embrace(non-profit).

4. h t tp : / /www.g lobalg iv ing .org /pro jec t s / embraceinfantwarmers.

5. www.puretemp.com/stories/sucess-story-embrace-infant-warmer.

6. http://www.google.co.in/search?q=Embrace+ warmer&client=ms-opera-mini-android & channel=new&gws_rd=cr&ei=6UbhV7OGAs2zmwHompnYCg.

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