What is the name of your organization?
BEMPU Health
What is the name of your solution?
The BEMPU TempWatch
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
A simple, low-cost bracelet that alerts parents for neonatal hypothermia, one of the top killers of babies in low and middle income countries.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
India
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Prematurity is the largest risk factor associated with child death. Premature newborns are unable to regulate their temperature well and can often become cold, called neonatal hypothermia, which is among the top causes of death for newborns. This is especially true in low and middle income countries where it is common to discharge babies to the home while they are still small (under 2 kgs or 4.5lb) and risk of hypothermia and are going home with parents who may be unaware or unable to manage the baby's temperature themselves. In fact, the Lancet's newborn series published that proper management of neonatal hypothermia could reduce global newborn mortality by up to 42%.
What is your solution?
The TempWatch is a simple bracelet given to premature babies that monitors their temperature continuously at the hospital and home. If the baby is warm, it blinks a blue light. If cold, it beeps, blinks, and wakes the parents so they can warm their baby before serious injury or death can occur.
The TempWatch is deliberately does not display the baby's temperature to keep it simple for illiterate parents, is worn by the baby continuously thereby catching hypothermia anytime it happens, has a built-in battery lasting 30 days making it effective in areas with limited power, and is small and portable making it easy to use by midwifes, village health workers and more. Currently the watch is available for use at a cost as low as $2 per baby.
This video shows more about the watch: https://www.youtube.com/embed/5ymMlSPGFmg
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
The TempWatch is primarily given to premature newborns in low and middle income countries around the time they are being discharged from the hospital and going home, or given directly to babies who are born at home. Our 13 clinical studies, US CDC evaluation, and 2 UNICEF reports show that the watch is accurate, well-accepted by parents and staff, helps drive behavior change and awareness about newborn illness, helps encourage life saving skin-to-skin care practice (i.e. kangaroo care), and helps babies gain more weight by staying warm. A study with the Government of Rajasthan in India observed a 57% reduction in death rate for low-weight tribal and rural babies using the watch, while a separate evaluation by the Ministry of Health in Benin observed a 14% reduction in death. More information is available at www.bempu.com/evidence or at this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/112gnvMqksK9Pf3uXgKyKMYSwhqOeWDir
