GE Healthcare announces global partnership with Embrace to distribute low-cost infant warmer

GE Healthcare today announced a global partnership with Embrace to distribute a low-cost infant warmer that looks like a small sleeping bag and can help keep an infant warm for hours. This product will be distributed in India initially to improve rural infant care as an alternative to more expensive warmers.

“GE Healthcare brings both expertise and global reach to this partnership, and shares our passion to change the world through technological innovations. Together, we can achieve Embrace's mission to give every child an equal chance for a healthy life.”

"At GE we're focused on the healthymagination tenets of reducing cost while improving quality and access through local solutions like this one," said Mike Barber, Vice President, GE healthymagination. "This partnership with Embrace is an opportunity to further our commitment to maternal-infant care while increasing local access and reducing infant mortality. Along with our partners, we're addressing the specific needs of the local healthcare environment and helping to solve critical problems."

The Embrace Infant Warmer has three components: a sleeping bag, a sealed pouch of wax and a heater. The warmer swaddles the baby and a heated pouch of wax is placed in an adjacent compartment in the sleeping bag. The pouch can be heated via an electrical heater. The Embrace Infant Warmer costs less than $200.

"We are thrilled to have GE Healthcare as a partner in this endeavor to save and improve the lives of babies around the world," said Jane Chen, CEO, Embrace. "GE Healthcare brings both expertise and global reach to this partnership, and shares our passion to change the world through technological innovations. Together, we can achieve Embrace's mission to give every child an equal chance for a healthy life."

One of the major contributors to death and illness in infants is hypothermia, a reduction in core body temperature below 95° Fahrenheit. Nearly 20 million low birth weight (LBW) babies are born each year, mostly in the developing world, and these babies are especially prone to hypothermia due to insufficient fat beneath the skin. The Embrace Infant Warmer is one potential solution to help keep babies warm and address the risks of hypothermia.

"GE Healthcare is committed to increasing access to new and more affordable forms of newborn thermoregulation in low resource settings in developing nations," said Carrie Eglinton Manner, General Manager - Maternal-Infant Care, GE Healthcare. "We're honored to partner with Embrace in the distribution of its Infant Warmer and have always been passionate about working toward a solution to reduce infant mortality rates."

In alignment with the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), GE is focusing its efforts on MDG 4, "reducing by two-thirds the under-five mortality rate by 2015." GE is concentrating its efforts on helping the nations that face the longest road to meeting this goal, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa.

"According to the World Health Organization, at least 50% of global births occur in underserved urban settings where access to affordable technology remains limited," said Eglinton Manner. "This partnership with Embrace is another step closer towards meeting this goal and addressing the needs of this underserved population."