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. 2022 Apr 7:10:851739.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.851739. eCollection 2022.

Ending Neonatal Deaths From Hypothermia in Sub-Saharan Africa: Call for Essential Technologies Tailored to the Context

Giorgia Brambilla Pisoni  1 , Christine Gaulis  1 , Silvan Suter  1 , Michel A Rochat  1 , Solomzi Makohliso  1 , Matthias Roth-Kleiner  2 , Michiko Kyokan  3 , Riccardo E Pfister  3 , Klaus Schönenberger  1
Affiliations

Ending Neonatal Deaths From Hypothermia in Sub-Saharan Africa: Call for Essential Technologies Tailored to the Context

Giorgia Brambilla Pisoni et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Neonatal death represents a major burden in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where the main conditions triggering mortality, such as prematurity, labor complications, infections, and respiratory distress syndrome, are frequently worsened by hypothermia, which dramatically scales up the risk of death. In SSA, the lack of awareness on the procedures to prevent hypothermia and the shortage of essential infant devices to treat it are hampering the reduction of neonatal deaths associated to hypothermia. Here, we offer a snapshot on the current available medical solutions to prevent and treat hypothermia in SSA, with a focus on Kenya. We aim to provide a picture that underlines the essential need for infant incubators in SSA. Specifically, given the inappropriateness of the incubators currently on the market, we point out the need for reinterpretation of research in the field, calling for technology-based solutions tailored to the SSA context, the need, and the end-user.

Keywords: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA); hypothermia; incubators; low weight at birth; mortality rate; newborn; prematurity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Section of Tarnier's Incubator. Retrieved from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Section_of_Tarnier%27s_incubator;_Budin,_The_Nursling,_1907_Wellcome_L0005632.jpg. Arrows indicate the air flow.
Figure 2
Figure 2
“An Artificial Foster Mother: Baby Incubators at the Berlin Exposition”. Display of Lion Incubators in 1896. Retrieved from: The Graphic 1896; 54:461; https://www.epoch-magazine.com/post/mothers-and-machines-on-the-midway-the-curious-case-of-baby-incubators.
Figure 3
Figure 3
History of Medicine: The Incubator Babies of Coney Island. Retrieved from: https://columbiasurgery.org/news/2015/08/06/history-medicine-incubator-babies-coney-island.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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