Globally, about 3.3 million newborns die within the first month of life, with neonatal infections, sepsis, pneumonia, and birth defects among the major killers according to the World Health Organization.
Clinical studies have shown that pulse oximetry screening can help detect life threatening conditions such as pneumonia, early-onset sepsis, neonatal infections, pulmonary hypertension, and congenital heart defects. Until now, available pulse oximeters in low resource settings have been inaccurate since they don’t use adhesive sensors and are unable to simply and wirelessly transfer test results.
The Birth Oximetry Routine for Newborns (BORN) project is the first global health initiative to reduce infant mortality by being able to detect illness, disease, and congenital birth defects using mobile technology to measure blood-oxygen levels in newborns.
Masimo Corporation located in Irvine California and the Newborn Foundation jointly announced at the mHealth Summit held December 8-11, 2013, that they were working together on the BORN Project to reduce global newborn mortality by using Masimo’s iSpO2 Rx technology.
The technology features a downloadable and upgradeable app ensuring that clinicians have the latest telemedicine technology at their fingertips 24/7. The app can store and email up to 12 hours of measurement history in a global standard CSV file format. The iSpO2 Rx with the M-LNCS™ connector is compatible with Masimo adhesive and reusable sensors
“This simple, noninvasive check of oxygen levels in newborns is among the most effective health measure that can be deployed to reduce newborn mortality,” said Annamarie Saarinen, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Newborn Foundation. “We are very excited to be partnering with Masimo and public health to deploy this technology and we will work hard to advance its use as part of routine newborn care.”
For more information, go to http://newborn-foundation.org or go to www.masimo.com.