TIBALABS

According to WHO report 2020, Around the world, an estimated 7,000 newborn babies die every day, More than 80 per cent of those deaths are the result of causes that could have been prevented with basic solutions such as affordable, quality Oxygen Supporting machines, four million infants die each year before their first birthday, over one million of them in their first 21 days of their life. Of the ten countries worldwide with the highest newborn mortality, eight are in Africa whereby one of the most countries at risk are in East Africa due to inadequate maternal and neonatal care. In East African region still has a very few neonatal infrastructure, there are very few specialist physicians, the public sector is underdeveloped, and the private sector is virtually nearly non-existent. Therefore, there is still a very high mortality rate for premature babies. As in many other African countries with poor healthcare, the most common causes of neonatal mortality in East Africa are premature birth (38.8 percent) mostly due to lack of breathing support in the first one month due to underdeveloped organs.

Moreover, There are several data sources barrier for collecting performance measures of these Oxygen Supporting machines; generally different data sources require different sets of measure specifications, due to the structure of the systems storing the data in hospitals and healthcare centers are not streamlined. There is no any Electronic Health records for clinical encounters as they hold the promise of providing the relevant clinical data for measures and for providing feedback to physicians and other health care providers that is timely and actionable. While during our preliminary research, hospitals and health care centers claimed to have report clinical card for every patient but the data are at risk of getting lost if the patient loses the clinical card. 

Millions of young lives of premature babies could be saved every year if they had access to affordable, quality health care such as affordable Oxygen supporting machines, But far too often a single unit of an Oxygen supporting machine costs $5000, which is far out of reach of the babies who need them most. In our journey to democratise access to quality healthcare for premature babies, we have innovated our first product called Bubble CPAP which is an innovative continuous air-pressure machine that that helps premature babies with breathing complications, also collects data for breathing complications amongst patients which are shareable across information systems and streamlined for data collectors. It just costed us $500 only to manufacture one, this will reduce the cost of Oxygen Supporting machines exponentially. Early trials of our first Product to some local hospitals perform 60% better, and stay 40% longer than the current products in the market. We have successfully completed medical trials and we have already started supplying to more than 10 hospitals in Tanzanian mainland and Zanzibar Ireland. We have just received a seed round of $500,000 that will help us cover the four contracts we have to be able to supply our innovative product to 926 Health Centres and 369 Hospitals in East Africa, and monitor them for 3 years, we can be able to reduce the premature babies mortality rate by 20% in East Africa, that is a reach to more than 900,000 children in East Africa. 

Furthermore, to solve a challenge of data loss, Our Oxygen Supporting machines have inbuilt sensors for data metrics collections and we have  leveraged the data in the clinical cards and created a state of art electronic data system. This new electronic system has aligned with national initiatives that highlighted the benefits and wealth of data that our systems brought to healthcare. Data collected from Our Oxygen supporting machines can be easily mixed, analysed and calculated with data collected through vital registration systems, household surveys (direct methods) and can be easily filled into our electronic clinical system.

We generally target hospitals, specifically Intensive Care Units (ICU) Market position, The global healthcare technology market is projected to reach USD 829.2 billion by 2026 from USD 319.2 billion in 2021, at a CAGR of 21.0%, there is over 67% growing demand for and use of CPAP and other HCIT solutions due to COVID-19 of which our Company Tibalabs is positioned to supply and also a rising demand of mHealth, telehealth, and remote patient monitoring markets is seen, this is our target market that we are positioned to cover. we are anticipating to grow significantly at a 50% month over month due to the increase in demand of CPAP products in support of breathing
complications 

Our Co-Founder was born a pre-mature baby, understanding that she was lucky to survive as the fact that prematurity is the leading cause of death for new born under five, contributing to 40% of deaths in newborn under five, pushed her to jump to co-found the establishment of TIBALABS which innovates technologies which are affordable and helps to save lives of premature babies. Our team composes of researchers, doctors, Engineers and management experts of which individually have a minimum of 5 years working experience with children under the age of 5,  and 70% of team members have specific experience working with premature ( born too soon babies) babies for at least 5 years. We have also done a recent recruitment of 5 team members for Monitoring and evaluation, we also continue to conduct internal capacity assessment to evaluate our capabilities for smoothly execution of our mission.

We are applying for this challenge to get the support we need for a comprehensive Maternity Care Measure, such as 1: Behavioral Health Risk Assessment will Measure Description Percentage of patients, regardless of age, who gave birth prematurely and who received a behavioral health screening risk assessment that includes the following screenings at the first prenatal visit: screening for depression, alcohol use, tobacco use, drug use, and intimate partner violence screening. Maternity Care Measure 2: Episiotomy (Overuse) for this measurepatients, regardless of age, who gave birth prematurely with CSection. Maternity Care Measure 3: C – Section, this will measure patients, regardless of age, who gave birth prematurely vaginally Measure 4: Post-Partum Follow-Up and Care Coordination will measure Description Percentage of patients, regardless of age, who gave birth prematurely who were seen for post-partum care within 4 weeks of giving birth who received a breast feeding evaluation and education, post-partum depression screening, post-partum glucose screening for gestational diabetes patients, and family and contraceptive planning and whose premature babies received an Oxygen Supporting Machine. Measure : Post-Partum Follow-Up and Care Coordination will measure Description Percentage of patients, regardless of age, who gave birth prematurely who were not seen for post-partum care within 4 weeks of giving birth who did not receive a breast feeding evaluation and education, post-partum depression screening, post-partum glucose screening for gestational diabetes patients, and family and contraceptive planning and whose premature babies received an Oxygen Supporting Machine. 

Our Oxygen Supporting machines provides oxygen that eases the struggle of premature babies to take their first breaths. Available Oxygen Supporting machines operate at 24 hours and depends on Oxygen tank sources to deliver oxygen to the patient, ours operates at 72 hours and filters surrounding air to support premature babies also filters oxygen out of Hydrogen in Water and support premature babies, Our machine also has a connector to Oxygen tank where available. Currently, nurses must manually turn a knob to raise or lower the level of oxygen in response to alarms coming from a vital signs monitor. Our innovative Oxygen supporting machine would automate that process by using a microcontroller, or small computer chip, that can receive the alert signal coming from the monitor and then automatically adjust the amount of oxygen to the changing needs of the premature child, thereby allowing the nurses to perform other duties.

 Our low cost Oxygen Concentrators could reduce childhood pneumonia–related 2 mortality by at least 35 percent in high burden, low-resource settings. Our Impact will focus just on the 15 countries where the pneumonia
burden is the highest in the next 5 years (2022 – 2027) this translates into reducing 148,000 deaths of children under 5 years annually. In addition, medical oxygen is also a key treatment for malaria, sepsis and meningitis, and now for Covid-19. Unfortunately, broad estimates suggest at least half of the world’s population does not have access to medical oxygen. In the few places where in-depth studies have been carried out, availability is critically low. For instance, According to USAID in Congo, only 2% of healthcare facilities have oxygen, we aim to improve Oxygen Access to 10% by year 2027; in Tanzania it’s 8% we aim to improve access to 16%, and in Bangladesh 7% we aim to improve access to 15%.

Our response will be directed by the Process whereby we use the evaluations to assess the extent to which the program is functioning as planned. Also will be directed by Outcome by examining overall program effects by focusing on objectives and providing useful information about program results, lastly will be determined by Impact whereby evaluations will focus on long-term program goals and issues of causality. Our measurement will be determined by collecting data on our program’s inputs, outputs, and outcomes/impacts will help us to answer a few key questions such as ‘What are we doing with our resources (inputs)? What services are we providing? Are we reaching our target audience (outputs)?, Are program activities achieving the desired objectives (outcomes)?, What long-term effects are these efforts having in achieving our goals (impacts)? Moreover, the results of our program evaluation will justify continued program uptake, Specific performance measures may include the following: Number and type of services provided to
premature babies, Number and type of service providers available to premature babies, Number of service professionals who received training, Changes in policy and practice in the community response to victims, Increase in the number of collaborative partners in the designated region.

Our Theory of Change is driven by strong cooperation among governments, businesses, health-care providers, communities and families. Our theory of change brings these actors together to demand and provide affordable, quality health care for premature babies. Our Theory of Change involves three areas; the first area is ‘’Where’’ . In our Preliminary research we found that 35 per cent of health facilities in East Africa did not have water and soap for handwashing. Without even the most basic standards of hygiene, pre
mature babies are at risk of disease and infection. The second area is ‘’Who’’ An analysis by the World Health Organization found that meeting the Sustainable Development Goal for health and well-being would require countries to have an estimated 44.5 doctors, nurses or midwives for every 10,000 people. Yet in our study we found out that in East Africa there are, on average, just 7 skilled health workers for every 10,000 people – far below the recommended minimum. The third area is ‘’How’’ In the research we conducted we found that there is a strong link between premature babies mortality and the empowerment of girls and women. Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable: Their babies are more likely to be small and have a
significantly higher risk of dying during the newborn period. A range of policies and interventions can help to empower adolescent girls, mothers and families to demand and receive quality care

cryogenic oxygen production technology, Software, 3D Printing, pressure swing adsorption technology, biotechnology, sensor technology.

We use Sensor technology to collect primary data but analysis is done by our two data analysts who are both full time compensated. 

Our Policies involves diversity and are inclusive to all, we treat everyone with equal concern and care, Equality and Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. Our Project team is one of the examples that represent a diverse of cultures, gender, and lifestyle. To do this we regularly review our work, planned activities, and policies and updating as required, we also have a special project officer responsible for diversity, equality and inclusion who is trained and oversees the monitoring and evaluation of our policies. In Accordance with our Project mission to be a catalyst for the development and coordination of a community-based health care system that strives for universal access and health equity for premature babies, we are determined to uphold the the principles of diversity, inclusion, respect, and health equity and collaborate with other community organizations striving to uphold these principles, Equip Board members, staff, volunteers, and other stakeholders with appropriate information, resources, and tools to safely denounce acts of discrimination or harassment if they witness it, and Oppose policy or regulatory changes that could stigmatize or discriminate against people of diverse backgrounds

Our Business Model Involves Business to Business, we target Hospitals and  Healthcare Centres, We use our own developed creative Community Engagement policy framework which Include involving of community members in the design and implementation of services to ensure they are culturally relevant and representative of the community, Create opportunities for community partners to learn about one another and cultivate increased understanding and awareness. In return this gives us a good publicity and market for our potential customers. 

We also have developed a Toolkit to help premature babies’ stakeholders and other early childhood professionals engage diverse populations and improve practice in cross-cultural settings for premature babies. Also the tool provides technical assistance guide to stakeholders in implementing improvement plans for premature babies which is based on informed system of care. This in return help us to target decision makers and Healthcare professionals who in return recommend our products and become our social ambassadors henceforth reaching our target customers. 

We also have entered a long term partnership agreements with government agencies and private sector healthcare stakeholders through Memorandum of Understandings to evaluate effectiveness on improving newborn outcomes and healthcare provider knowledge and skills alongside ongoing trainings and

supervision to ensure that learners have the opportunity for continued practice and in monitoring and evaluation of newborn outcomes, this in return establishes us as Industry leaders in East African Market which in long run give us a competitive advantage. 

We plan on being financially sustainable through selling of our products, acquiring supply contracts and Raising Investment Equity.

We also already have supply contracts to four (4) one of leading suppliers of medical equipment in East Africa, We have been able to raise $500,000 this July, 2022 for a run way of 6 months, we expect to be financially stable in 6 months.