Business model for baby warmers for combatting neonatal hypothermia

Abstract

Neonatal Hypothermia is one of the most important reasons of deaths of babies in India. This condition occurs when the rate of heat loss exceeds the rate of heat generation in the body, leading to a fall in body temperature. While low temperature remains a contributing factor, there are also other mechanisms of heat losses in babies, prevalent even in a tropical country like India. Certain social conventions like premature bathing make the Indian babies even more prone to this condition. There is a significant difference in neonatal mortality rates between developing and developed countries, indicating the role of poor socio- economic conditions in neonatal hypothermia. The role of the urban-rural divide in neonatal hypothermia cannot be discounted because of differences in awareness levels and access to facilities like incubators. We aim to address the issue of neonatal hypothermia by launching a Baby warmer. It has an open tray to allow the neonate to lie in it. A sensor patch is attached to the underarm of the baby to monitor temperature continuously. The temperature is continuously transmitted via Bluetooth to a controller. If the temperature drops below normal levels, the controller activates two IR bulbs. The resultant heat is absorbed by the neonate’s body and causes the temperature to rise back to normal levels. Another variant of this product will also monitor pulse rate, blood pressure and heart beat rate. This information is transmitted via blue tooth to the cell phone of parents. This facilitates continuous tracking of the neonate’s vital parameters. The former model will be launched in rural areas on a rental basis with affordable rates for the first one month of the baby’s life. The cost benefit analysis reveals that the rental charge should be INR 100 per month. The latter model would be launched in urban areas and would be sold on a B2B basis to established hospitals at the price of INR10,000 per product. Alternative revenue channels like monetization of data generated need to be explored. This might enable reducing the rentals further below INR 100 to make the product even more affordable in rural areas. The proposed model doesn’t completely address the possibility of overwarming of babies. The proposed product is more of a treatment and not a cure for neonatal hypothermia as it doesn’t address its root causes. Scaling up the model can be facilitated with help from NGOs and governmental agencies.