About this idea
Worldwide, an estimated 14.1 million neonates require treatment for severe jaundice to prevent permanent brain damage and over 6 million of these neonates do not have access to the necessary phototherapy equipment to treat their jaundice. Electric phototherapy is effective but requires continuous electricity, replacement parts, and trained personnel for implementation, many of which are lacking in low resource settings. Filtered sunlight phototherapy is a clinically proven and effective low-cost and non-electric alternative, but current tent models separate infants from their parents in a tent, making it difficult to regulate temperature and preventing kangaroo care from taking place. Kangaroo care, in which the neonate has prolonged skin-to-skin contact with the parent, is essential during the first few days of life, especially for premature infants - helping the infant’s breathing, thermoregulation, bonding with parents and breastfeeding alongside many other benefits. Our novel device, BiliRoo, is the only technology that combines the evidence based treatments of filtered sunlight phototherapy with kangaroo care. BilliRoo is non-electric, easy to use and can be manufactured for less than 1/10th the cost of conventional phototherapy equipment. We hope to bring BiliRoo to the neonates that need it the most by conducting clinical trials in the next year and launching to market in 2026.
Impact
Our objective is to give clinicians in limited resource settings a simple, non-electric, reusable yet effective tool to treat infant jaundice while simultaneously facilitating kangaroo care. Our patent-pending medical innovation is currently the only technology that combines these two treatments. On a large-scale, BiliRoo would 1) allow for neonates with severe jaundice to be treated with phototherapy despite limited resources, irregular electricity, few staff and 2) facilitate kangaroo care which in turn helps the neonate to regulate breathing, temperature, feeding and bonding with parents. Thus, BiliRoo has the potential to decrease significant morbidity and mortality in low resource settings due to jaundice.
What I'll do with $5,000
The $5000 will be used for prototype development, initial clinical trial-related costs, and patent-related costs.
Quick Bio
Daniel is a senior at Calvin University studying mechanical engineering, chemistry, and biology. He is the inventor and founder of BiliRoo.
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