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Neonatal Asphyxia Project Receives Top Honors at World Health Care Congress

CIMIT GHI Team’s vision applauded by Nobel Laureate Mohammad Yunus

In the category of Maternal and Newborn Health, first prize was awarded to the CIMIT Global Health Initiative (GHI) Poster “Cost-Effective Asphyxia Intervention in Aceh, Indonesia.” This first annual poster competition was a featured exhibit and sponsored by Grameen Healthcare at the 6th Annual World Health Care Congress.

Photo: Muhammad Yunus, Nobel laureate and founder of Grameen Bank and Grameen Healthcare, with Aya Caldwell CIMIT Global Health Associate.
Photo courtesy of Grameen Healthcare and World Health Care Congress.

Professor Muhammad Yunus founder of Grameen Bank and Grameen Healthcare, a microfinance organization that has spurred many other services for the poor, presided over the awards.  Over 40 posters were submitted and winners were judged by affordability, innovative technology, and a sustainable business  model in resource limited settings. 

“Cost-Effective Asphyxia Intervention in Aceh, Indonesia”  Aya Caldwell, Global Health Associate at CIMIT GHI, presented the poster that  focused on implementing a birth asphyxia training program.  A key element to the program includes an innovative tube and mask device.  This device was commercially produced in Indonesia, but had not yet been scaled.

Birth asphyxia is the third leading cause of neonatal deaths accounting for 1 million deaths annually worldwide.  Simple resuscitation methods, when performed accurately, can reduce these deaths by 70-80%. 

Modules in the GHI training program are concise, on-site, and integrated into the existing health system.   Since 2005 over 500 midwives have been trained.   It has also fostered a robust continuing medical education infrastructure where other modules are being implemented and offered in community based settings. Upon the successful completion of the Asphyxia Intervention training program, each midwife is presented with a resuscitation tube and mask device.  Having such a device is regarded as a marker of medical sophistication for the village midwives.

CIMIT GHI seeks to improve the effectiveness of healthcare providers in low-income settings by developing and implementing sustainable technologies and targeted training . GHI’s area of focus is in maternal and child health, global health diagnostics and communicable diseases.   Collaborating organizations include Global Health Committee (GHC), Harvard Initiative in Global Health (HIGH), Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI), International Organization of Migration (IOM),  MIT Innovations in International  Health (IIH),  and Design that Matters.  To learn more about the GHI community visit the Global Health Initiative cause page on Facebook.

CIMIT (Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology) fosters and nurtures interdisciplinary collaboration among world-class experts in medicine, science and engineering, in concert with industry and government, to rapidly improve patient care. A non-profit consortium of Boston-area teaching hospitals and engineering schools, CIMIT provides innovators with resources to explore, develop and implement novel technological solutions for today’s most urgent healthcare problems.

The 6th Annual World Health Care Congress in Washington, D.C. highlights leading global strategies for performance management, innovations in health care technology, chronic disease management and health care financing.  The poster session offered a unique opportunity for those involved in developing or implementing extremely affordable solutions in health care delivery to showcase how using innovative enabling technologies and business models can improve healthcare globally.  More information at http://www.worldcongress.com/events

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