Malav Sanghavi won the prize for the invention of BabyLifeBox.
AB Wire
An Indian-origin student studying in London has recieved third prize for the invention of a low-cost cardboard baby incubator prototype that has the potential to save millions all over the world.
Malav Sanghavi won the prize for the invention of BabyLifeBox in a start-up competition held at St James’ Palace in London.
Sanghvi is studying Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) Master’s dual degree course at Imperial College London and Royal College of Art.
Good luck to Imperial teams @KNYTTAN and @babylifebox – finalists in @TheDukeOfYork's #pitchatpalace this afternoon pic.twitter.com/1yJw0ZusjK
— Imperial College London (@imperialcollege) November 2, 2015
The invention will help save the lives of millions in countries that lack basic infrastructure for a neonatal care of premature and underweight infants.
“BabyLifeBox is a low-cost baby incubator that provides basic neonatal care at grassroots-level. India has highest number of babies dying within the first 24 hours of their birth in the world, more than 300,000 a year,” Sanghavi was quoted by Indiatimes as saying.
“According to our initial research, we found that India’s healthcare service has facilities to deal with a standard birth at sub-centres, primary health centres and community health centres but it lacks the infrastructure for a neonatal care of premature and underweight infants,” Sanghavi added.
The idea for the innovation was born when his cousin’s daughter had to be kept alive in an incubator a few years ago, the report said.