
A low cost, re-usable electricity-free infant warmer: evaluation of safety, effectiveness and feasibility
Objective: To assess the safety, effectiveness, and feasibility of an inexpensive, reusable, non-electric warmer to complement kangaroo mother care (KMC).
Methods: Prospective single-arm, non-randomized intervention study. Enrolled infants were hypothermic or at risk of hypothermia due to prematurity/LBW. Infants used the warmer in conjunction with KMC or as the sole source of external heat. Temperatures of the infant, warmer and air were measured for up to 6 h.
Results: Overall, 33 patients used the warmer for 102 encounters: 43 hypothermic and 59 at risk of hypothermia. In 7/102 encounters (7%), the infant developed a temperature of >37.5°C (37.6°–38.2°C). For 43 hypothermic encounters and 59 at-risk encounters, hypothermia was corrected/prevented in respectively 41 (95%) and 59 (100%) instances. The warmer maintained goal temperature for the study duration in 85% of uses. Two/12 warmers broke down after <10 uses. In no instances was the warmer used incorrectly.
Conclusion: Our results are promising for this prototype design, and warrant testing on a wider scale.
Keywords: kangaroo mother care; low-resource setting; non-electric warmer
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Partners In Health, Inshuti Mu Buzima, Kigali, Rwanda 2: Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Children's Hospital of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado, USA 3: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA 4: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA 5: Partners In Health, Inshuti Mu Buzima, Kigali, Rwanda, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 6: Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Institutional Centers for Clinical and Translational Research, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 7: Rwinkwavu District Hospital, Rwanda Ministry of Health, Kayonza, Rwanda 8: Rwanda Biomedical Center, Kigali, Rwanda 9: Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Publication date: December 21, 2018
Public Health Action (PHA), The Union's quarterly Open Access journal, welcomes the submission of articles on operational research. It publishes high-quality scientific research on health services, providing new knowledge on how to improve access, equity, quality and efficiency of health systems and services.
The Editors will consider any manuscript reporting original research on quality improvements, cost-benefit analysis, legislation, training and capacity building, with a focus on all relevant areas of public health (e.g. infection control, nutrition, TB, HIV, vaccines, smoking, COVID-19, microbial resistance, outbreaks etc).
- Editorial Board
- Information for Authors
- International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
- Public Health Action
- Ingenta Connect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites
- Access Key
- Free content
- Partial Free content
- New content
- Open access content
- Partial Open access content
- Subscribed content
- Partial Subscribed content
- Free trial content